Duke Basketball: Analyzing transfer pickups Mason Gillis, Sion James and Maliq Brown

In the past few years, the “covid year” era has made college rosters older than ever, with many teams having multiple players at least 21 years or older. In March, the older and more experienced teams had more success compared to the few “younger” teams. One of those few is Duke Basketball, which still has consistently had large incoming recruiting classes, including the past No. 1 overall groups.

But they still weren’t enough to get to the Final Four in the Jon Scheyer era. They lost in the Round of 32 to Tennessee two years ago and this past season, fell to 11-seed NC State in the Elite 8 upset loss. In the offseason, the team underwent a ton of changes, with nine players either entering the NBA Draft or hitting the transfer portal.

Losing players to the pro ranks is normal for the Blue Devils but the portal departures were a surprise. Veteran guard Jeremy Roach left for Baylor, while former 5-star prospects, TJ Power and Sean Stewart, decided to leave as well. That left the team with not much depth and outside of Tyrese Proctor, no returning veteran guards.

The good news is that Duke Basketball was ready for the absences, as they hit the portal hard. They landed four players from the portal, with three of them entering their senior seasons. What kind of impact will they have on the team next season? Here’s a closer look at the newcomers to the program and what they have to offer.