Some National Basketball News That Could Affect Duke

Jul 14, 2026 - 11:15

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Some National Basketball News That Could Affect Duke

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There is some interesting news around college basketball, so let’s take a look.

First, Gonzaga suffered a surprising loss when Mario Saint-Supéry went back home to Spain to play professionally. Our sense is that he would have made more with Gonzaga, but who knows?

Maybe he just misses home. Maybe he would take less money to be where he feels he belongs.

This could affect Duke, since the Blue Devils are playing Gonzaga on Prime Video in February. However, there are various lawsuits in the system after the NCAA opted to give a fifth year of eligibility, and probably more to come. If that works in Gonzaga’s favor, they could find a very mature, useful guard who could cover the loss of Saint-Supéry nicely.

Two possible candidates: former UCLA Bruin Donovan Dent and former Wake Forest guard Nate Calmese. Most rosters are already sorted, but if you have a sudden defection, and a gift falls in your lap, any coach would be relieved.

Secondly, Kansas has had a number of embarrassing situations involving players or former players, but none quite like this: former Jayhawk Lagerald Vick has been charged with attempted murder.

To be clear, he is no longer at KU and hasn’t been since 2018, but there is a pattern that is concerning: look who else has been in trouble.

Arterio Morris (2023): Transferred from Texas; charged with rape at KU (dismissed later due to insufficient evidence). Had a prior misdemeanor assault plea from Texas. Dismissed from the team.
Billy Preston (2017 recruit): Central to the 2017-18 FBI corruption scandal. His mother allegedly received payments from Adidas reps to steer him to KU. He played exhibitions but left after eligibility questions and a car accident; never played regular-season games.
Silvio De Sousa (2017-20): Guardian allegedly received payments from Adidas. Led to vacated wins/Final Four appearance; he was ruled retroactively ineligible for part of his career. And there was the chair incident.
Jalen Wilson (~2021): Arrested on DUI suspicion; missed games due to suspension.
Lagerald Vick (played 2015-19): Multiple issues, including a 2015 Title IX case (found likely to have hit a female student) and 2026 charges of attempted first-degree murder and firearm use in Memphis (plus earlier 2026 burglary/theft charges).

It’s important to note that being accused is not the same thing as being guilty, and obviously Kansas is not responsible for what Vick may or may not have done after leaving school.

Still, when you add it all up, it doesn’t really look great.

Finally, the Duke-Michigan game, which lost some luster when Dusty May took off for the Dallas Mavericks, seems to have regained some. Mike Boynton has been named the full-time coach – no interim tag – and no one entered the portal (Gonzaga: c’mon, Elliot Cadeau! C’mon, Brandon McCoy!), so at a minimum, disaster was averted.

Update – LJ Cason opted to enter the portal, but he’s still several months away from being a reliable contributor after his ACL injury last season.