Duke basketball freshman Dariq Whitehead teases return from injury

Five-star Dariq Whitehead looks to be in the Duke basketball lineup "soon."

The 2022-23 Duke basketball season tips off in 11 days at home against Jacksonville, and the status of potentially the nation's most electric freshman, Dariq Whitehead, remains a question mark for the Blue Devils.

Whitehead, a projected one-and-done lottery pick who finished No. 2 overall on the 247Sports 2022 Composite, underwent surgery in late August to repair his fractured right foot. He suffered the injury in a team workout.

And although he no longer requires a protective walking boot and even danced a bit on stage at Friday night's Countdown to Craziness, there have been no sights or reports of Whitehead participating in any scrimmage action.

But on Wednesday, the same day he landed on the 20-deep preseason watchlist for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, Whitehead sparked excitement among the Duke basketball fanbase.

He did so by tweeting what appears to be an optimistic update — albeit vague — regarding when he'll be back on the court at full strength: "Soon..."

So is it safe to predict that Dariq Whitehead will be in the lineup when Duke hosts Jacksonville? Probably not. After all, first-year head coach Jon Scheyer said at Countdown to Craziness that the 6-foot-7, 220-pound New Jersey native "is still a few weeks away."

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OK, but will he at least be back in time for the preseason No. 7 Blue Devils' trip to Indianapolis to face defending national champion and preseason No. 5 Kansas at the Champions Classic on Nov. 15?

Well, that depends on one's interpretation of Whitehead's use of the word "soon."

On Saturday afternoon, the Duke basketball team will be in Texas to play No. 3 Houston in a closed-door scrimmage.

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