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Much of the preseason chatter about Duke basketball has centered on veteran returnees and 5-star freshmen, on transfer guard John Blackwell and all the depth Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer will have this season.
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All but lost in the shuffle has been a player who was redshirted last season: Sebastian Wilkins.
The 6-foot-8, 220-pound wing sat out as a freshman last season as the Blue Devils rolled to another ACC championship and were the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. He often banged heads in practice with freshman big man Cam Boozer, who would be named national player of the year.
Had the NCAA’s five-year eligibility rule then been in effect, Wilkins might not have sat. His playing time might have been limited, but he likely would have played for the Devils. Boozer, for one, often mentioned Wilkins’ competitiveness and energy.
But his freshman season was spent in development, as Scheyer has called it. It was spent being around Boozer but also having such older players as Maliq Brown and Pat Ngongba II to advise him, push him and round out his game.
“It was just a learning experience,” WIlkins said last week. “I feel like I’m just learning the game. From high school to college is just a totally different game.
“Everyone helped me through the process. They were coaching me like I was playing. The older guys like Maliq, Pat and even Cam were helping me the whole way. Learning defense was a part of it. Early on, I struggled with that. So it was about just learning the defense, and the offense, really, in how to play college basketball games.”
Wilkins’ comments came in the Duke locker room after a 102-62 scrimmage victory over Belmont last week at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Around him, the media was thick around freshman Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, sophomore Dame Sarr and Blackwell, Duke’s three scoring leaders in the game.
Wilkins did not start but was the first player off the bench. In 22 minutes, he had eight points, six rebounds and two steals. He had no turnovers on a night when Duke had 16.
Wilkins’ four offensive boards caught Scheyer’s eye. The coach liked the overall hustle, too.
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“He understands what we’re looking for,” Scheyer said after the scrimmage. “He’s a great connector on offense. He’s a versatile defender. He just does a lot of what’s called the little things, even though they’re not little. Sebastian does all of it.
“He does a nice job impacting winning and building trust with me throughout the practices. He’ll keep building.”
Rated a four-star recruit, Wilkins was a part of the powerhouse recruiting class of 2025 that brought Cam and Cayden Boozer, Sarr and forward Nik Khamenia to Duke last season. The Boston native, who has a 6-10 wingspan, had starred at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, once going for 14 points and 12 rebounds against the Boozer brothers and Miami’s Columbus High in a prep tournament.
Asked what he can bring to the Devils this season, Wilkins grinned.
“I think I’m a little unpredictable,” he said.
Unpredictable? In what way?
“I think whatever coach wants me to do, I can do,” he said. “Whatever he wants. Anything.”
Khamenia, a 5-star recruit out of California, left after last season and moved on to Connecticut to play for the Huskies, the team that bounced Duke out of the NCAAs. Wilkins, in turn, announced he would return to Duke and not look elsewhere.
At the recent ACC media days in Charlotte, Sarr was asked what Duke player no one was talking about could be a surprise this season. Wilkins, he said.
It’s a deep team, with 10 players Scheyer can quickly turn to, given the situation or the opponent. It’s also a team that still feels the sting of that last-second loss to UConn that kept it out of the Final Four.
“We will be a team with depth and length,” Wilkins said. “I think we’ll be a team that plays fast and wears teams out. That’s our game.”
And missing the Final Four and a shot at the 2026 national championship?
“There’s a lot of motivation, “ Wilkins said. “Even though I wasn’t playing last year, I was deeply connected. It was a huge motivation for me to come back and help the team win.”
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