Caleb Foster’s first two seasons with Duke basketball were not always smooth sailing.
As a freshman, Foster cracked the Blue Devils‘ starting lineup and averaged more than 25 minutes per game, only to see his year cut short by an ankle fracture that sidelined him for the final nine contests. By his sophomore year, Foster started the first seven games of the season before being moved to the bench.
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That sophomore season had its low points, with Foster being the only non-scholarship player to not see the court in Duke‘s home finale vs. Wake Forest. He followed that up with a nine crucial minutes in the second half of the Blue Devils’ rivalry game against UNC five days later, helping the Blue Devils be crowned the outright ACC regular-season champions for the first time under head coach Jon Scheyer.
Despite the ups and downs he’s experienced through his Duke career, Foster chose to stay the course and stick with Duke basketball for his junior season, taking the “old school” approach per assistant coach Chris Carrawell.
“There’s a lot of things I could do better, a lot of things I can control,” Foster said at Duke’s media day on Wednesday, Sept. 24. “Ultimately, I want to be here at Duke, play here at Duke and have a great impact.”
Foster enters his junior season as Duke’s only third-year player, ready to take on a bigger leadership role and bring consistency to the court – the same kind of consistency Scheyer said he’s seen from Foster throughout the offseason.
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“I think the best thing you can you can ask for as a coach is knowing what you’re going to get from a guy every single day,” Scheyer said. “What Caleb is going through his first two seasons, I think the recipe is very clear to him, it’s just a matter of going out there and doing it. And so the way that he’s worked, who he’s been as a teammate, as an older player embracing the details, whether it’s talk, whether it’s positioning, whatever it may be, he’s done that in a big way.”
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Foster spent the entirety of the summer in Durham working, not only on his game, but with new Duke Director of Sports Performance Preston Greene.
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He is up to 205-pounds according to Duke’s official 2025-26 roster, compared to his 197 when he first arrived on campus.
“He was in the gym, in the weight room, always on the court,” Carrawell said. “And so when you take a look at him, his body looks phenomenal, like a gladiator. Muscles popping out of his neck and everything. You can just tell he’s talking more. So from a leadership standpoint, we’ve really been pleased with his development.”
Foster and Duke host Countdown to Craziness on Friday, Oct. 3 and have two exhibition games against UCF (Oct. 21) and Tennessee (Oct. 26). It officially opening its season on Tuesday, Nov. 4 vs. Texas in Charlotte at the Spectrum Center.
“I’m looking forward to him having a really good year.” associate head coach Emanuel Dildy said. “You almost kind of know he’s going to have a good year because of the type of summer that he’s had.”
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Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com or follow her @annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke basketball: Caleb Foster ready for bigger role with Blue Devils
