ESPN released its early men’s basketball rankings for the 2024-25 season last week, and the Blue Devils finished near the bottom of the top 10 despite a loaded roster.
Senior writer Jeff Borzello put Duke eighth on his rankings, still the highest-ranked team in the ACC but below preseason expectations for head coach Jon Scheyer’s team.
Scheyer managed to secure top-ranked freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] from the Class of 2024, one of six top-40 prospects who joined the Blue Devils this offseason. [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] just represented South Sudan at the 2024 Olympic Games, and starters Caleb Foster and Tyrese Proctor both return in leadership roles.
However, Borzello thinks Flagg needs to live up to all of his hype as a generational talent for the Blue Devils to reach the upper echelon.
“Flagg is good enough to be in contention (for the Wooden Award)…and Duke will need him to be,” Borzello wrote.
While there’s reason for concern about a team that seems to be planning on starting multiple freshmen, such a sentiment feels slightly dismissive of the older talent. Proctor led the team with 3.7 assists per game last season, and he’ll have more surrounding talent than ever before. Foster shot better than 40% from 3-point range, Syracuse transfer Maliq Brown paced the ACC in effective field goal percentage, and Tulane transfer Sion James averaged 14.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.6 steals with the Green Wave in 2023-24.
The Kansas Jayhawks, two years removed from their latest national championship, took the top spot after luring transfers AJ Storr from the Wisconsin Badgers and Rylan Griffen from the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Crimson Tide still managed to finish second in Borzello’s rankings, followed by the two-time defending national champion Connecticut Huskies.