All of the attention around the Duke men’s basketball team will focus on top-ranked freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] this season, but players among the ACC think two other Blue Devils deserve more credit.
The Fayetteville Observer’s Rodd Baxley published an anonymous player poll on Monday asking the conference to name the most underrated basketball players across the league.
Returning starters [autotag]Caleb Foster[/autotag] and Syracuse transfer Maliq Brown came to mind for their ACC foes, two members of the Duke roster who should play a large role in the 2024-25 season.
Foster, now a sophomore, started 15 of his 27 games as a freshman in 2023-24. The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 7.7 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game, making more than 40% of his 3-pointers before a stress fracture in his ankle brought his season to an unfortunate end a few weeks early.
He and fellow returner Tyrese Proctor are expected to start in the backcourt, and Foster will be a reliable perimeter presence and ball-handler for the Blue Devils in 2024-25.
Brown has actually flown quite a bit under the radar before his first Duke season. He made 69.8% of his shots in both seasons with Syracuse, leading the conference in effective field goal percentage last year, and he scored 26 points against the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Foster and head coach Jon Scheyer think Brown’s best asset is his defense, with the sophomore saying Brown could be the best defender in the country.
Two other names listed in Baxley’s poll should be familiar to Duke basketball fans. Stanford’s Jaylen Blakes and Virginia’s TJ Power, who both played for the Blue Devils last season before transferring, also made the underrated list.