Duke's men's basketball program had spent the entire offseason avoiding one thing: the transfer portal.
Before Monday, no Blue Devils had entered the portal, and no one had committed to come to Durham out of the portal.
But that all changed with one of the biggest transfer moves of the offseason: Cedric Coward is coming to Duke.
The 6-foot-6 grad transfer announced his move in an Instagram post, writing, "I think blue is my color!"
Coward spent the 2024-25 season at Washington State, where he played in just six games before a torn labrum ended his season.
In those six games, Coward averaged 17.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.
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The two years prior, Coward played at Eastern Washington. As a junior there, he averaged 15.4 points per contest.
His college origin story was Division III Willamette University. He tallied 19 double-doubles there, including one in each of his final 15 games of the season.
Coward is technically declared for the NBA Draft and will have to withdraw his name before he can officially come to Duke.
Most likely, Coward will be a starting member of Duke's backcourt, following this season's theme of lots of length even on the perimeter.
Rising junior Caleb Foster and sophomore Isaiah Evans are other candidates to start at guard. Cayden Boozer and Carlos Boozer are two other probable starters for Jon Scheyer.
Duke will look a lot different after the departures of Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Khaman Maluach, Tyrese Proctor and Sion James.
But picking up Coward is a big step toward having another impressive season in the ACC and the NCAA Tournament.
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