Duke vs. UNC Roster Building: How’s It Looking?

Duke and UNC are always talked about together in some way or another. It’s just inevitable, and this is especially true for recruiting.

You never know how players will work out, but this article rationally suggests that Duke is well ahead this year in recruiting, and that more is generally expected from Jon Scheyer’s next team than Michael Malone’s first at UNC.

Duke is bringing in highly regarded freshmen Cameron Williams, Bryson Howard, Deron Rippey, Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, and Maxime Meyer.

The transfer portal brings in Drew Scharnowski, Jacob Theodosiou, and John Blackwell, assuming that he doesn’t stay in the NBA Draft.

And UNC?

Malone brings in Sayon Keita, Maximo Adams, Kevin Thomas, and Malloy Smith, son of Kenny. And from the portal, UNC reeled in Cade Bennerman, Terrence Brown, and Neoklis Avdalas. Like Blackwell, Matt Able is still deciding whether or not to stay in the draft.

But hold the phone! Because things can change fast around here.

On Thursday, Duke got a commitment from Nick Arnold, a sneaky good point guard from the Charlotte area, who says he is coming as a walk-on. We keep seeing people say it’s a steal, but who knows.

And for their part, rumors of another UNC commitment swirled. It remains unconfirmed, but the Tar Heels may – may – bring in 6-11 Greek Alexandros Samodurov. Samodurov and new Heel Neoklis Avdalas played together  with Panathinaikos of the Greek EuroLeague. They also have the same agent, Alex Saratsis of Octagon.

Samodurov is talented, but played behind some much more experienced players with Panathinaikos, including one-time NC State big man Omer Yurtseven, the rare player whose last name is also an address.

People are still figuring out the new environment, but you’d think that much like feeder prep schools, when agent relationships are established, a similar trail will be followed.

That would give Malone Samodurov, Keita, and Bennerman to work with in the post. Between the three of them, they could probably approximate Henri Veesaar’s contributions. And we’d remind you that once Caleb Wilson’s injuries started, Veesaar’s contributions declined quite a bit.