The Duke basketball program hasn’t opened a season outside the top 10 since current head coach Jon Scheyer was a sophomore.

For much of the 2024-25 campaign, Duke was often the only ACC team—or one of just two—ranked in the AP Top 25, underscoring the conference’s recent decline in national perception. Once considered the gold standard of college basketball, the ACC has endured several underwhelming seasons, with many analysts expecting more of the same given the current state of roster construction across the league.

In his updated 2025-26 preseason rankings released Thursday night, college basketball analyst John Fanta projected only two ACC teams—Duke and Louisville—to appear in the Top 25. Both, however, land inside the top 10, with Louisville at No. 7 and Duke just behind at No. 9.

If Duke holds onto that top-10 spot when the season tips off in early November, it will mark the 18th consecutive year the program begins with a single-digit ranking. That streak began in 2008-09, during Scheyer’s junior year as a player. Now 37, he’s set to enter his fourth season at the helm in Durham.

Duke’s Jon Scheyer receives major recruiting news on a four-star recruit.

Duke heads into the offseason after a dominant 35-4 (19-1 ACC) run in the 2024-25 season that ended with a Final Four appearance under fourth-year head coach Jon Scheyer.

Although the Blue Devils are losing all five starters from that squad, a top-ranked 2025 recruiting class keeps them firmly in the national championship conversation for 2025-26.

Among Duke’s future targets is four-star 2026 power forward Sebastian Wilkins from Brewster Academy, who is set to take his official visit to Durham on Monday, according to 247Sports’ Sam Kayser. Wilkins, ranked No. 17 in ESPN’s Top 100 and the No. 1 player in New Hampshire, has already visited Maryland and Texas A&M and is being heavily recruited by Alabama, Florida State, Iowa, Boston College, and others.

In 34 games with Brewster’s national team during the 2023-24 season, the 6-foot-8, 210-pound Wilkins posted averages of 10.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.4 blocks in 22.5 minutes per game, per MaxPreps.

He also earned MVP honors with a standout 22-point, 8-rebound performance in Brewster’s victory over Oak Hill Academy in January.

Duke is coming off an ACC regular season and tournament sweep and earned a No. 1 seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament. Their path to the Final Four included wins over Mount St. Mary’s, Baylor, Arizona, and Alabama before being eliminated by Houston.

With key players such as Cooper Flagg, Khaman Maluach, and Kon Knueppel declaring for the NBA Draft, Wilkins’ upcoming visit represents a vital part of Duke’s plan to reload and remain at the forefront of college basketball’s elite.