Isaiah Evans and Duke Blue Devils didn’t meet their high hopes in the 2025-26 college basketball season. As the NCAA Tournament’s top overall seed, they reached the Elite Eight but missed the Final Four when Braylon Mullins’ buzzer-beater lifted the No. 2 UConn Huskies to victory.
Even with that tough March Madness finish, Evans delivered his strongest college season yet. The Fayetteville, North Carolina, sophomore guard started all 38 games, posting career bests of 15.0 points per game on 43.3% shooting, plus 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists. While Evans ponders his next hoops move, one teammate has already decided theirs.
Sebastian Wilkins, a 6-foot-8 guard/forward hybrid out of Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro, New Hampshire), was a four-star prospect in the class of 2025 (247Sports). He ranked as the 47th-best overall recruit in his class, along with the 11th-best power forward and the second-best from the state of New Hampshire.
Wilkins was originally a prospect in the 2026 recruiting class but reclassified to 2025. With less high school experience than other incoming Duke freshmen, including Cameron and Cayden Boozer and Nikolas Khamenia, Wilkins and head coach Jon Scheyer agreed that taking a redshirt year in 2025-26 was his best option. Wilkins did not appear in a single game for the Blue Devils this past season.
And on Tuesday, Wilkins revealed his commitment to Duke going forward, revealing on social media that he would be returning to Durham for the 2026-27 season as a redshirt freshman.
“back,” Wilkins wrote on Instagram. “Unfinished business 💙😈 #year2”
Evans took notice of his teammate’s announcement, showing support for Wilkins in the comments: “Bash.”
While Evans’ future is still up in the air, Duke does have a few key players returning next season, including Cayden Boozer and starting center Patrick Ngongba II.
