As if Michigan State’s 2026-27 non-conference schedule needed to get any tougher, one of the Spartans’ eventual opponents just added yet another star player.
It’s hard to believe that Duke, Tennessee, Arkansas, UConn, or Gonzaga still have room for star players as they’re all projected in the top 15 for next season, but they’re clearly not done adding talent yet.
Duke is just loading up right now.
After already holding a top-five recruiting class and being projected as one of the top three teams in the country for 2026-27, Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devils picked up a commitment from five-star big man Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje who just played for FC Barcelona in Spain.
Although he doesn’t have an official ranking on 247Sports, he’s listed as a five-star on a different overseas scale. He’s one of the best young centers in the world.
To make matters worse, he’s so young that his age is going to hold him back from being a one-and-done for the Blue Devils. The five-star from Spain will need to play a minimum of two years of college basketball before being eligible for the NBA draft. That just means that Duke is going to have one of the best big men in the country for two years.
How much tougher does this make Duke? The already-loaded roster which adds three top-15 recruits and John Blackwell from the transfer portal just got scarier. This team is, in my opinion, way better than it was this past year when it was No. 1 during the regular season.
Michigan State’s non-conference opponents keep getting better
I’m willing to bet that this isn’t the last superstar addition for a Michigan State non-conference opponent, which is going to present some matchup problems.
Gonzaga has one of the best transfer classes in the country after adding arguably the best center in the portal, Tennessee could still add Juke Harris to a loaded class, Arkansas has the No. 1 class in the country, and UConn is UConn. The Huskies are probably a favorite to land a five-star that we haven’t heard about yet.
We thought the schedule was tough when the Tennessee matchup was announced yesterday and less than 24 hours later, it got even tougher.
Add us as a preferred source on Google