Chris Carrawell first arrived in Durham as part of the same 1996 Duke basketball recruiting class that also featured Nate James. And the pair spent four years as teammates, although James redshirted his sophomore campaign, thereby ultimately staying a season longer than Carrawell to wind up as a key member of the 2000-01 Blue Devil national champion squad.

Plus, James, who is now in his second season as associate head coach at Howard and was previously head coach at Austin Peay, served as associate head coach at Duke when Carrawell was also one of Mike Krzyzewski's assistants.

So, Carrawell, who has been on the Duke basketball staff since 2018 and is now in his fifth season serving as associate head coach under Jon Scheyer, knows well the game and frame that led to James averaging 12.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.6 steals for the 2000-01 champs and drawing 29 starting nods across the 39 outings he played for that 35-4 bunch.

Now, Carrawell has certainly gotten to know the skill set and potential of second-year Duke basketball forward Sebastian Wilkins. Last season, Carrawell helped then-redshirt Wilkins develop his game outside of the spotlight.

And this go-round, Wilkins has undoubtedly emerged as one of the first few Blue Devils off the bench, impressively responding to the call each time throughout the group's preseason slate and in Monday night's 84-50 season opener home win over the Army Black Knights.

Sebastian Wilkins Brings to Mind Nate James in Chris Carrawell's Eyes

With all of the above in mind, there's obviously considerable meaning behind the comparison that Carrawell made on Wednesday night while speaking to Blue Devil play-by-play radio voice David Shumate during the program's latest episode of Fast Break with Jon Scheyer.

"He's going to be a key guy," Carrawell explained about the 6-foot-8, 220-pound Wilkins. "He reminds me — I hate to go back, I always go back to the days I played — but like, the big wings that we had. Sebastian kind of reminds me of Nate James, with the size, the athleticism. He can guard multiple positions.

"And like, kudos to him, because it wasn't easy for him his freshman year. And he came back, he worked his tail off this summer, and he learned our system. So now, he understands everything on the court, both ends, offensively and defensively. And he's such a great teammate, always making the unselfish play. And when you play that way, good things come, and he's been playing great basketball for us."

In the victory over Army, Wilkins played 19 minutes off the bench, tallying six points, two rebounds, one assist, and four steals in doing just a little bit of everything for Scheyer's loaded fifth Duke basketball squad. The 19-year-old Boston native shot 2-for-4 from the field, 0-for-1 from three, and 2-for-2 at the foul line.

Wilkins and the rest of the No. 2-ranked Blue Devils face the visiting unranked Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in Cameron Indoor Stadium at 8 p.m. ET Thursday (ACC Network).