Anticipating Bryson Howard’s Impact At Duke

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 07: (EDITOR'S NOTE: Image was created using a variable planed lens.) "Cameron Crazies" look on prior to the game between the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 07, 2026 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Bryson Howard, we suspect, will come into Duke a bit underrated. After all, look who else is in his class: Cameron Williams, Deron Rippey, and Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje.

Howard has a lifetime of basketball education from his father Josh, who started for four years at Wake Forest and was not necessarily fond of Duke.

Fortunately, he seems to have gotten over it.

Young Bryson is athletic, to be sure, but he didn’t make the McDonald’s game, and he wasn’t universally seen as an elite prospect. Our guess is that’s a serious mistake.

It’s not just the lifetime of lessons sucked up from his father, who was a very good NBA player. It has more to do with what we think we’ve seen of his mentality.

Because Howard is a dog.

He gets after it on defense. And when you pair him with Dame Sarr, that’s going to be an absolute nightmare for people to go up against. Toss in another perimeter defender – Foster, Boozer, or Rippey – and that’s as imposing a trio as you’re going to find.

Sarr’s offense had a lot of flaws as a freshman, not least of which was that he struggled to drive to the basket.