It’s been a tale of two different offseasons on Tobacco Road.
In one, John Scheyer and Duke landed the No. 1 high school recruiting class for the third year in a row, had some major roster retention wins by bringing back guys like Patrick Ngongba, Dame Sarr, Caleb Foster, and Cayden Boozer, while supplementing the roster with some impressive Transfer Portal additions, most notably Wisconsin star guard John Blackwell.
In the other, North Carolina fired its coach and then scrambled to hire another one before the portal window opened, making the panic hire of Michael Malone. The Tar Heels subsequently lost their biggest 2026 recruit and have struggled mightily to fill out the roster, particularly in the frontcourt…