The Duke Blue Devils are heading into the 2026-27 college basketball season in a much more stable place than their arch-rival, North Carolina.
Head coach Jon Scheyer and his staff built a roster ready to win in today’s college basketball landscape, featuring a great blend of retention, key transfer portal additions, and elite young talent.
North Carolina brought in former NBA champion Michael Malone this offseason, and he assembled a solid recruiting class, including transfers Terrence Brown (Utah), Matt Able (NC State), and Neoklis Avdalas (Virginia Tech).
UNC’s guard room presented a lot of intrigue, but there were certainly frontcourt questions, an area of the game the Blue Devils are set at. However, Malone and Co.’s latest addition changes that ceiling.
UNC Makes Intriguing Late Transfer Portal Addition
North Carolina signed South Dakota transfer center Cameron Fens on Friday, bolstering a frontcourt unit that now looks much more formidable defensively.
Fens spent two seasons at UIC and the most recent two at South Dakota. In 2025-26, the 7’0″, 255-pound big man averaged 14.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks a night, earning First Team All-Summit League and Summit League All-Defensive Team honors. Fens was granted a fifth season of eligibility after a judge in Tennessee granted him a temporary injunction against the NCAA, stemming from the newly implemented age-based eligibility model.
How Duke and North Carolina Frontcourts Stack Up
At least on paper, UNC has the length to match up with the Blue Devils, who will be one of the biggest teams in college basketball this season.
In addition to the seven-foot Fens, the Heels brought back Jarin Stevenson and are bringing in seven-footer Cade Bennerman from Northwestern, along with international recruits Alexandros Samodurov (6’11”) and Sayon Keita (7’0″).
Keita and Samodurov have the length and instincts to become elite rim protectors for the Heels over time. Interestingly, Keita has yet to arrive at UNC, though he is expected to get to Chapel Hill sometime in August.
With the late addition of Fens, the Tar Heels have newfound depth in the frontcourt that could legitimately stack up with Duke’s three-man unit of 6’11” Patrick Ngongba, 7’2″ Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, and 6’9″ Drew Scharnowski. The Blue Devils also have seven-footers Maxime Meyer and Cameron Williams, although Williams probably won’t be a full-time paint presence.
Last season, it was the Heels’ frontcourt that caused problems for Duke, as UNC’s duo of Henri Veesaar and Caleb Wilson was one of the most productive big man tandems in the country. Now, it looks like UNC will be able to compete with Duke down low.
UNC will be a very intriguing team to follow throughout the 2026-27 season, given the wholesale changes it experienced both on the roster and coaching staff. On the other hand, Duke enters the campaign with arguably the best roster in the entire country.
Over the last few seasons, Duke has had much more success on the court than the Tar Heels. Malone has done a pretty impressive job in the portal this offseason, which will hopefully make both rivalry bouts in 2027 must-see TV.
