The photo of Cameron North climbing up onto the win wall after Duke’s latest victory feels like the perfect symbol for a Blue Devils team that has opened the 2025–26 season with a firm, chest-thumping 5–0 start. The moment is loud even in silence North’s expression, the arena lights bouncing off the celebration board, the unity in his teammates’ cheers. It captures the mood in Durham right now: confident, connected, and quietly aware that something special might be forming.
Duke didn’t just stumble into 5–0. Every win has carried its own tone, its own statement. Their most recent showing, a convincing 78–66 victory over Kansas at Madison Square Garden, felt like the night Duke officially reintroduced itself to the college basketball world. Three of their rising stars delivered performances that echoed through the building ferocious defense, controlled tempo, and that signature Duke mix of swagger and discipline. It was the kind of win that reminds people why Duke always seems to return to national conversation no matter who’s wearing the jersey.
Jon Scheyer, now settled into his role with the confidence of a coach who’s rebuilt the roster in his own image, has been emphasizing connectedness. It’s showing. Duke hasn’t been relying on one hero or one hot hand it’s been a layered team effort. Cameron Boozer has been playing with the kind of poise that feels unfair for a teenager, carving out high-efficiency nights from inside and midrange. Isaiah Evans, with his length and shot-making, has found ways to bend defenses and create space that wasn’t there a season ago. And Patrick Ngongba, powerful and productive, has quickly evolved into the grounding presence Duke needed in the paint. They are becoming a trio that opponents can’t game-plan away every time you shut one faucet off, another one opens.
But it’s moments like Cameron North climbing that wall that tell the deeper story. North may not be the headline star, but he’s one of the heartbeat players the ones who keep competitive fire burning even during lulls, who talk in huddles, who sprint in transition even after dead possessions. Teams that make deep runs often have players like him, players who give their entire chest to the program, who lift the chemistry and keep the bench alive. When he reached the top of the win wall, you could see teammates pointing up at him, laughing, celebrating, almost as if they were lifting him with their energy.
There’s been a noticeable shift this season in Duke’s defensive awareness as well. Reports coming out of early-season practices highlighted a renewed emphasis on pressure at the point of attack, and so far it’s translating. Duke’s rotations are sharper, their switches smoother, and they’ve been forcing opponents into late-clock shots on a regular basis. That defensive control showed against Kansas, where Duke managed to bottle up the Jayhawks’ transition game—something Kansas typically uses to break open contests. Holding Kansas under 70 on a neutral floor says something about who Duke is becoming.
It also helps that this roster has no ego friction. Throughout the first five games, every postgame press conference has included at least one Duke player emphasizing the same theme: they are playing for each other. Evans recently said, “We’ve got guys who want to share the ball, guys who want to guard the best guy, guys who want to do the extra stuff you don’t see on the highlights.” That kind of messaging doesn’t come from PR polish—it usually comes from a locker room that genuinely likes each other.
Yet the most exciting part of this early stretch is that Duke doesn’t look close to its ceiling. Scheyer’s rotation is still settling. The freshmen are still adjusting to the speed of the college game. Roles are still being refined. It is a 5–0 start with room to grow, space to sharpen, and yes, a few vulnerabilities still visible at times. And even with all that, they’re winning with authority.
A season is long, and Duke knows better than most programs that November momentum doesn’t guarantee March glory. But there’s something about this particular group their chemistry, their tone, their joy in each other’s success that suggests this isn’t a temporary spark. This is a group playing with the kind of belief you can feel through photos, through celebrations, through moments like the one with North perched on the wall as the Garden lights glowed underneath him.
For Duke fans, that image will stick for a while. It’s early, but it hints at a team climbing toward something bigger. Something that requires every win, every wall, every floor they play on to help elevate them. And right now, 5–0 feels less like a start and more like the foundation of a season Duke plans to build sky-high.
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