Tag: 2024-25 Duke Basketball Team

Analytics site projects 2024-25 statistics for Cooper Flagg and Duke basketball

Bart Torvik, who runs one of the most popular college basketball analytics sites, thinks Cooper Flagg might average nearly 20 points per game.

The entire college basketball world awaits [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag]’s Duke debut later this fall, and it occasionally feels like the top-ranked freshman can’t possibly live up to the offseason hype.

According to Bart Torvik, who runs one of the most popular college basketball analytics sites in the country, our sights might not be set high enough.

Field of 68 posted Torvik’s 2024-25 statistical projections for the Blue Devils this week, and he thinks Flagg will lead the team with 19 points per game. For reference, only 14 players on Power Six basketball teams last season matched that total.

Torvik also thought Flagg would average eight rebounds per game, making him one of the most potent double-double threats in college basketball. His 6-foot-9 frame and eye-popping athleticism make that sound entirely feasible.

Despite head coach Jon Scheyer welcoming five other elite freshmen into his program this offseason, Torvik thinks Duke’s second-leading scorer will be a familiar face. Tyrese Proctor, the junior point guard who led the team in assists last season, slotted in with 14 points and four assists per game.

Khaman Maluach, the 7-footer who will play for South Sudan in the Olympics, finished with 12 points and eight rebounds in the projection. Caleb Foster, the Blue Devils only other returning guard, rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points per game.

Check out Duke Wire’s statistical projections for each Blue Devils freshman here.

Duke basketball posts photo of Cooper Flagg dunking on two teammates

The Duke Blue Devils shared some photos from the men’s basketball team practices on Wednesday and Cooper Flagg threw down on two teammates.

It might not compare to him looking like the best player on the court against the U.S. Olympic Team, but the [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] hype machine gained a little steam again on Wednesday.

The Duke men’s basketball team posted some photos from team practice on Wednesday, and one of the later slides in the Instagram post showed Flagg rising for a dunk over two different teammates.

These weren’t nameless teammates, either. Transfer Sion James and Maliq Brown, two upperclassmen and two presumed starters on next year’s squad. The two players both partially came to Durham with promise centered around their defense.

Between the photo and his time at Olympic training camp, it’s clear Flagg can still look like the generational talent he is promised to be against top competition.

The upcoming Duke freshman remains the presumed No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, and one FOX Sports talk show host actually renamed next year’s NBA season ‘Capture the Flagg’ in honor of how many teams he assumes will tank for the Blue Devils star.

The photo is the ninth slide down below.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9iMjAvRrF4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Fans also got good looks at Kon Knueppel, Tyrese Proctor, and head coach Jon Scheyer sporting some glasses in the slideshow.

NBA scout describes incoming Duke freshman Isaiah Evans as ‘an absolute killer’

After watching incoming Duke basketball signee Isaiah Evans at Tatum Elite Camp, Draft Express’s Jon Chepkevich praised his spirit and fire.

With offseason basketball camps in full swing, NBA scouts have given plenty of early thoughts on the 2024-25 Blue Devils.

After sharing his impressions of Sion James, Tyrese Proctor, and Kon Knueppel this week, Draft Express’s Jon Chepkevich compiled his take on incoming freshman Isaiah Evans on Thursday.

“Evans was an absolute killer during constraint-based isolation drills at the Tatum Elite Camp,” Chepkevich wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Knocked down contested shots as you might expect, but more notably brought a ton of fire, fight, and pride defensively.”

Evans’ competitive spirit should come as no surprise to Duke fans who’ve kept an eye on him throughout his senior season in high school. The two-time North Carolina Mr. Basketball turned heads earlier this year for jawing with some UNC fans at one of his high school games.

The five-star signee clearly cares about Duke’s biggest rivalry already, as he also tossed out a jab at Tar Heels starter Cormac Ryan during the McDonald’s All-American Game media sessions.

Check out Duke Wire’s predictions for Evans’ final freshman stat line, as well as his five classmates, here.

ESPN analyst says America will hear about Cooper Flagg “every single night” at Duke

The NBA couldn’t stop talking about Cooper Flagg after his Select Team performance, and one ESPN analyst says college fans will do the same.

17-year-old [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] won’t play for the United States this summer in Paris, but after the country’s Olympic training camp, he was the only person anybody wanted to talk about.

Flagg went viral multiple times, including one stretch of back-to-back baskets during a Monday scrimmage. Scouts and coaches said he might have been the best player on the Select Team, which featured nothing but NBA starters, and Kevin Durant and other players sang his praises.

During a Thursday segment on ESPN’s Get Up, basketball analyst Seth Greenberg said college fans better get used to Flagg getting all the attention in the basketball world.

“That is a bad dude. He’s a generational talent,” Greenberg said.

The longtime college basketball personality praised Flagg as a three-level scorer, detailing him as a threat both in the paint and from beyond the 3-point line.

“You’re going to listen and see him every single night on SportsCenter, on Get Up, on First Take,” Greenberg concluded.

Check out Duke Wire’s predictions for Flagg’s freshman stats (as well as predictions for all six freshmen) here.

Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer talks about managing deep roster for 2024-25 season

“If you want something, earn it now.”: Jon Scheyer spoke about how he’s managing his stacked 2024-25 roster during the offseason on a new podcast.

Few college basketball coaches will have a harder job managing their roster in 2024-25 than Duke’s Jon Scheyer.

The Blue Devils return two starting guards from the 2023-24 squad that reached the Elite Eight. They also bring in a star-studded freshman class with four five-star prospects and two other top-40 players in the country. If that wasn’t enough, Scheyer also landed four transfers, including three of the biggest names on the market.

So how does a coach with more than 10 possible starters decide who gets to start and end games on the court? During a Monday episode of The Devil’s Den podcast, Scheyer expanded upon his process this offseason.

“I think the only way to attack it is brutal honesty,” Scheyer said. “Just to be completely transparent…I’ve done things a little bit different this year. I’ve wanted to give these guys an opportunity to show even earlier, if you want something, earn it now.”

“We’ve done more as a team and less individual (work), I’ve felt it was important to get time this summer to not just get to know one another but also to carve out whatever you want…instead of me saying you should play a certain way.”

Scheyer said he and the coaching staff will provide feedback for the players (“If you’re not being successful at it, I’ll tell you”), but he ultimately wants every member of the rotation to earn a spot in the lineup.

The third-year coach started the offseason with similar sentiments early on in the summer, saying that no player on the team entered the season with guaranteed minutes and praising how competitive his newest locker room is.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer praises Cooper Flagg’s fit in the Blue Devils locker room

Jon Scheyer said top-ranked recruit Cooper Flagg came to Duke “with a chip on his shoulder” and praised his fit with the team in new podcast

The Duke Blue Devils never fly under the radar in the college basketball world. A program with five national championships in the last 35 years can’t be anonymous. However, a prospect like [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] only makes the microscope focus a little harder.

The runaway hype for the presumed No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft would also be easy to reach a 17-year-old’s head. According to the Duke program, however, that hasn’t been an issue for Flagg.

During a Monday episode of The Devil’s Den podcast, head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] talked about how easily Flagg fit into the program despite the added weight of his recruiting status.

“The thing I love about him is he wants to be coached, he wants to be pushed,” Scheyer said. “He’s added to our environment, he’s added to the culture we’re trying to build because he’s come in with a chip on his shoulder. No entitlement, he’s been just hungry to work.”

When asked if he and his staff felt any pressure to perform given Flagg’s status as the best prospect in the country, Scheyer gave an important nugget of perspective about recruiting rankings for high schoolers.

“He’s 17,” Scheyer said. “We’ve got to help him.”

Flagg’s already gaining valuable pre-college experience with the USA Basketball Men’s Select Team, including a notable dunk during Sunday’s scrimmage against the Olympic team,

Jon Scheyer explains why he wanted Duke basketball to get bigger in new podcast appearance

Every Duke basketball player will stand at least 6-foot-5 next season. Head coach Jon Scheyer explained the commitment to size in a recent podcast.

The Duke basketball team is going to be huge in 2024-25, and head coach Jon Scheyer explained that the size of the Blue Devils roster is no accident.

During a Monday episode of The Devil’s Den podcast, Scheyer said the team consciously targeted height to maximize the team’s athletic ability on defense.

“I want us to create more turnovers,” Scheyer said. “In order to be more aggressive like the teams that I’ve been a part of here, the more athletic you are, the more you’re able to do that because you can cover ground, (you have) the length to make up for it.”

“So that’s why we’ve gone bigger…and that’s my style for how I’ve been taught here under Coach (Mike Krzyzewski) but also how I want to play for us going forward.”

Scheyer also highlighted Syracuse transfer Maliq Brown, who averaged 2.2 steals per game last season as a 6-foot-8 forward, as someone he immediately targeted because of his ability to create chaos. [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag], two standout freshmen and presumed 2025 lottery picks, fit the same bill at 6-foot-9 and 7-foot-2, respectively.

Sophomore guard Caleb Foster, at 6-foot-5, will be the shortest player in the rotation next season. Check out every player on the 2024-25 roster ranked from tallest to shortest here.

What are NBA scouts saying about Duke’s Sion James after Chris Paul Elite Camp

Sion James participated in the Chris Paul Elite Camp this past week. Read what one NBA scout said about his performance here.

[autotag]Sion James[/autotag] might be the most anticipated member of Duke’s incoming transfer players after his four-season run with the Tulane Green Wave. The 6-foot-6 guard boasts a physicality and athleticism uncommon to the game of basketball, and he visually just looked like a different tier of athlete from his fellow Blue Devils during the first scrimmage footage out of Durham.

He also spent the past few days at the Chris Paul Elite Camp alongside some of the best guards at both the collegiate and high school levels, and one NBA scout noticed the same strengths there.

“James brought outlier strength and physicality,” Draft Express’s Jon Chepkevich wrote on X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter). “The Swiss Army knife transfer via Tulane uses his powerful frame to his advantage as a finisher through contact. Absolute freight train when he gets downhill.”

Chepkevich paired the takeaway with some highlights of James’ performance during the camp.

The scout also wrote some positive words about James’ future teammate Tyrese Proctor from the camp.

NBA scout praises Tyrese Proctor performance at Chris Paul Elite Camp

Duke guard Tyrese Proctor, one of two returning Blue Devils, needs a junior jump to solidify himself as an NBA prospect. One scout thinks he might get one.

Duke basketball star [autotag]Tyrese Proctor[/autotag] will return to Durham for the 2024-25 season, making him one of two Blue Devils starters back in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Australian guard led the team with 3.7 assists per game last season, but some inconsistencies as a scorer and a shot-creator meant he couldn’t capitalize on the lottery promise he brought to Duke.

Unless he takes a leap as a junior in 2024-25. And according to one NBA scout after the 2024 Chris Paul Elite Camp, that might be what’s coming.

Jon Chepkevich, the Director of Scouting for DraftExpress, raved about Proctor’s performance at the offseason camp.

“Proctor showed encouraging signs of progress,” he wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Knocked down shots, facilitated with poise, and used his size to his advantage defensively. Looks to have added some strength to his frame.”

He accompanied the takeaway with a quick highlight compilation of Proctor’s performance at the camp.

Standing out at the Chris Paul camp is no small feat. College stars like North Carolina‘s RJ Davis and Elliot Cadeau, Wake Forest’s Hunter Sallis, and Indiana’s Kanaan Carlyle all made the trip, as did Proctor’s future teammate [autotag]Sion James[/autotag].

The best photos from Tyrese Proctor’s 2023-24 season with Duke basketball

Here are some of the best photos from Tyrese Proctor, one of two returning Duke starters from 2023-24, as a sophomore with the Blue Devils.

When he first committed to the Duke basketball program, fans might not have expected three seasons of [autotag]Tyrese Proctor[/autotag].

After all, how many four-star and five-star prospects stay in college for multiple seasons anymore? Proctor came to Durham with lottery promise, and despite some inconsistencies on the offensive end, he’s shown some elite traits on the defensive end and as a distributor. He averaged a team-high 3.7 assists last season despite only playing 30 minutes per game, and the 6-foot-6 Australian seems poised to take a step forward now that he’s the elder statesman in the room.

There are older players on the 2024-25 Duke basketball roster, but none of them have spent more time with the Blue Devils than Proctor. Despite his new status as a locker room leader, he’s still only 20 years old, and he’s one great season from being a first-round draft pick in 2025.

Here are the best photos from Proctor’s sophomore season in Durham, from the fall through the Elite Eight.