Sebastian Wilkins picks Duke basketball over Maryland, will join Blue Devils in 2025-26
Wilkins, a 6-foot-8, 215-pound forward from Brewster Academy in New Hampshire and Massachusetts native, picked the Blue Devils over former ACC rival Maryland on May 23 via the 247Sports YouTube channel.
Advertisement
"Go Blue Devils," Wilkins told Adam Finkelstein, the director of scouting for 247Sports, as he revealed a Duke t-shirt that said, "Dream Biggest."
Wilkins said coach Jon Scheyer is getting "someone who's gonna work for whatever he gets" and "the talent is gonna show for that."
A versatile power forward with the potential to be a potent two-way player for Scheyer's program, Wilkins is the fifth recruit in Duke's latest top-ranked class. He visited Duke in early May. Wilkins joins the Blue Devils ahead of the 2025-26 season with four other incoming recruits: Cameron and Cayden Boozer, Nikolas Khamenia and international prospect Dame Sarr.
Duke is set to return several players from a squad that swept the ACC championships and advanced to the Final Four. Caleb Foster, Isaiah Evans, Maliq Brown, Patrick Ngongba and Darren Harris are the key returners.
Advertisement
INTERNATIONAL BLUE DEVIL: Dame Sarr fills immediate need for Jon Scheyer, Duke basketball roster
DUKE ROSTER: What to like about Cameron Boozer, Duke basketball roster entering 2025-26 season
Rodd Baxley covers Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding those teams? Send them to rbaxley@fayobserver.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke basketball gets commitment from recruit Sebastian Wilkins
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas basketball announces 2025-26 non-conference schedule
The non-conference schedule is set for the first season of the Sean Miller era of Texas Longhorns basketball, highlighted by eight home games at the Moody Center, including an ACC/SEC Challenge game against Virginia, a three-game trip to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational, and a road trip to Storrs to face UConn. The season opener in the Dick Vitale Invitational against Duke at Charlotte's Spectrum Center is on Nov. 4, marking the sixth matchup between the Longhorns and the Blue Devils and the first since an overtime game at the PK80 Championship in Portland, Ore. in 2017. Texas makes it 2025 Moody Center debut as part of a four-game home stand that includes the first-ever matchups against Lafayette, Kansas City, and Rider, sandwiched around the second meeting between Texas and Farleigh Dickinson, which also faced off against the Horns at Gregory Gym in 1975. From Nov. 24-26, the Longhorns will play three games in the Maui Invitational as part of an eight-team field that also includes Arizona State, Boise State, host Chaminade, NC State, Seton Hall, USC, and Washington State with pairings for the event to be announced. Two games back at the Moody Center in early December include the first meeting with Virginia and the second meeting with Southern before traveling to face UConn at the XL Center trying to cut into an 8-3 edge for the Huskies in the all-time series against the Longhorns that includes wins over Texas in each of the last two seasons. Pre-Christmas home games against LeMoyne and Maryland Eastern Shore close out the non-conference schedule before facing SEC opponents from Jan. 3 to March 7. More from Longhorns Daily News: Former Texas RB Bijan Robinson still helping Longhorns recruit top players Longhorns Daily News: Former Texas RB Jamaal Charles to 2025 squad: 'Let's just get one game at a time' Steve Sarkisian on in-state recruiting: 'How do we corral the state better than we have?' Longhorns Daily News: Former Texas RB Bijan Robinson still helping Longhorns recruit top players Tracking Texas players, commits, and signees in the 2025 MLB Draft Men and Women's Track and Field earn All-Academic honors and team award Longhorns Daily News: Texas football lands top-four ranking with latest recruiting class
Washington Post
2 hours ago
- Washington Post
Raiders defensive line looks to prove itself after release of Christian Wilkins
HENDERSON, Nev. — Christian Wilkins' expected impact on the Raiders' defensive line was in question long before he was shockingly released last week , which if nothing else provided clarity on what kind of front Las Vegas can take into the season. Jonah Laulu has showed some promise he could take over Wilkins' spot at tackle next to Adam Butler, who comes off a career season. Maxx Crosby is an elite edge rusher, and Malcolm Koonce on the other side has shown the ability to disrupt opposing passing games.
Associated Press
2 hours ago
- Associated Press
Raiders defensive line looks to prove itself after release of Christian Wilkins
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Christian Wilkins' expected impact on the Raiders' defensive line was in question long before he was shockingly released last week, which if nothing else provided clarity on what kind of front Las Vegas can take into the season. Jonah Laulu has showed some promise he could take over Wilkins' spot at tackle next to Adam Butler, who comes off a career season. Maxx Crosby is an elite edge rusher, and Malcolm Koonce on the other side has shown the ability to disrupt opposing passing games. Not that replacing one of the game's top interior linemen will be simple, but the Raiders might be able to absorb such a change reasonably well. 'We're not necessarily the biggest group, but across the board everybody moves really well,' coach Pete Carroll said. 'So we're going to play to that. ... That's a real competitive group, and that's going to take us all camp. It's going to take us through the games and all of that to figure that out. There's no rush. 'But it's a good spot because there's enough guys that have something to show you, so we just got to give them the right opportunities and see if we can draw out the best in them.' Crosby is the group's star, and in practice he has resembled the player who in 2022 and 2023 had 27 sacks and 45 tackles for loss. He played through injury last season in totaling 7 1/2 sacks and 17 tackles for loss over 12 games before finally being shut down to undergo ankle surgery. At the other end, Koonce missed the entire season because of a torn ACL. It was a major setback to a player trying to build on a 2023 season in which had six sacks over the final four games. The Raiders signed him to a one-year, $12 million prove-it contract this season. 'We're counting on Malcolm to be a big factor,' Carroll said. 'He's really athletic and he's really natural player, and he's got good instincts.' Butler and Laulu occupy the two inside spots. The Raiders have a known quantity in Butler, an eight-year veteran coming off back-to-back seasons in which he had five sacks each season. He was especially effective last season, starting a career-high 16 games. Butler didn't start any games in 2023, though he played in all 17. 'You only got one chance to do this,' Butler said. 'I don't get to do my career over again. I changed my attitude, changed my approach to the game, and I just decided that I wasn't going to be just a third down player anymore. I decided that I am a starter. I'm going to prove myself in this league, and anybody that says I'm not, I'm going to do everything in my power to shut them up.' Laulu takes on the burden of being the player expected to step in for Wilkins. The second-year pro played in all 17 games last season, starting seven after Wilkins broke his foot in Week 5. Though Laulu had just three tackles for loss and one sack, he has used the extra snaps in practice this year to make a case for a bigger role, something Carroll said hasn't gone unnoticed. 'Coming in late to training camp, I came here the week before we played Week 1 and was just trying to learn the plays,' Laulu said. 'I was trying to learn our philosophy on the defense, how we operate, and how do we attack offenses. 'Being able to now transition to this year where I'm still under the same coaches on defense and being able to stack on top of last year, I'm very comfortable in the defense, even though we changed some things.' Notes By not holding out, left tackle Kolton Miller doesn't have any catching up to do in training camp after signing a three-year, $66 million extension Wednesday, including $42.5 million guaranteed. 'Each day is an opportunity, and I feel like if you're not in it, you're taking a step back and it's really not helping you,' Miller said. 'So I'm glad this all worked out, and I wouldn't want to do it any other way.' 2024 second-round draft pick Jackson Powers-Johnson came out of minicamp as the expected starting center, but shared the position with third-year pro Jordan Meredith in camp. That is until Thursday when Meredith lined up at center and Powers-Johnson at right guard. ... Jakorian Bennett started seven games at cornerback last season before going out with a shoulder injury, but has mostly been running with the second and third teams. Bennett pointed to not starting in high school until his senior season, going to a junior college and then to Maryland. 'I always feel like the underdog,' Bennett said. 'Not saying I'm an underdog right now, but I always had to get out the mud, and that's nothing I shy away from.' ___ AP NFL:
