Tag: Khaman Maluach

Duke basketball starts as the third-best team in EvanMiya’s preseason projections

Popular college basketball analytics site EvanMiya released its 2024-25 preseason projections on Wednesday, and the Blue Devils begin near the top.

EvanMiya, the popular college basketball analytics site, released its 2024-25 preseason projections on Wednesday, and the math thinks the Duke Blue Devils are the third-best teams in the country.

The Blue Devils bring back only two starters from last year’s Elite Eight run, but six top-40 freshmen and three top-tier transfers ensure that head coach Jon Scheyer can work with one of the most talented rosters in the country. Seven different Duke players finished within the top 100 of ESPN’s 2025 NBA draft prospect rankings, including presumed No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg.

The Blue Devils begin the year as the third-ranked offense and the 10th-ranked defense, one of four programs to start the season within the top 10 in both categories (Houston Cougars, Auburn Tigers, and Kansas Jayhawks).

EvanMiya does consider Duke the team to beat in the ACC. The North Carolina Tar Heels, last year’s conference champion, only finished 14th in the preseason projections. The next-highest ACC team, Wake Forest, didn’t show up until the 36th spot.

Duke did finish 250th in adjusted tempo, which returning starters Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster said will be a point of emphasis this season. The Blue Devils operated a little more slowly in 2023-24, but thanks to the athleticism of Flagg and other new additions, Scheyer will want to push the pace a little more.

Duke basketball freshman Khaman Maluach says family members recognize Zion Williamson

Khaman Maluach, a freshman from South Sudan, said his cousins don’t recognize Duke basketball, but one Blue Devil catches their attention.

In South Sudan, where Duke basketball freshman [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] is from, the Blue Devils basketball brand doesn’t hold the same weight as it does here.

During the team’s media day on Friday, the first-year 7-footer said that his younger cousins didn’t recognize the school when he told them where he committed. When he brought up one name, however, everything clicked.

“Back in my place, when I try to explain to my little cousins that I’m at Duke, they don’t get it,” Maluach said. “But when I tell them I’m at [autotag]Zion Williamson[/autotag]’s school, they get it.”

Williamson, who now plays for the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA, was a national sensation in his only collegiate season. He averaged 22.6 points per game, tied for the most by a freshman in school history, and added on 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.1 steals, and 1.8 blocks en route to national player of the year honors.

He went first overall in the 2019 NBA draft later that summer, one of five No. 1 picks in school history.

Maluach said Williamson’s highlights also helped him become aware of the Duke basketball brand despite living on a different continent when the Blue Devils star ruled the college landscape.

Maluach is no slouch for his part, either. He represented South Sudan at the 2024 Olympic Games this summer at just 17 years old, and as a five-star prospect, he’s expected to be a lottery pick in the 2025 NBA draft.

Junior Tyrese Proctor said on The Brotherhood Podcast earlier this week that the 7-foot-2 freshman’s mere defensive presence will bother teams.

“Even if he’s just there, he’s in the back of your mind,” Proctor said.

Tyrese Proctor talks about the impact of Duke basketball freshman Khaman Maluach

“Even if he’s just there, he’s in the back of your mind,” Duke basketball teammates said of Khaman Maluach’s defensive presence.

It’s hard to believe about a five-star prospect who represented his country in the Olympic Games at just 17 years old, but Duke basketball freshman [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] might not be getting talked about enough before the 2024-25 season.

New teammate Tyrese Proctor certainly thinks so, and in a Tuesday episode of The Brotherhood Podcast, the junior said he thinks Maluach can surprise some fans just by how his defensive presence affects other teams.

“People understand how good Man Man is,” Proctor said. “But I don’t think they understand the impact he has on the team. He’s really just, like, a protector.”

“Even if he’s just there, he’s in the back of your mind.”

Maluach, the tallest player on the roster, is listed at 7-foot-2. He’s already put together some impressive highlights in Basketball Africa League games, showcasing his shot-blocking ability but also teasing some perimeter shooting. He spent the summer in Paris representing South Sudan, and he and his teammates picked up the country’s first-ever Olympic win during pool play.

 

College basketball reporter Jon Rothstein predicts Duke starting lineup after watching practice

CBS Sports reporter Jon Rothstein watched a Duke basketball practice on Tuesday and offered his insight on who the starting five might be.

CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, one of the most ubiquitous names in college basketball coverage, made his early prediction for the Blue Devils’ starting five after watching a Duke basketball practice on Tuesday.

Of course, top-ranked freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] made Rothstein’s projected lineup, as did returning starter Tyrese Proctor. He also predicted that Purdue transfer Mason Gillis and two five-star freshmen, Khaman Maluach and Kon Knueppel, would end up in the first five.

Flagg enters the season as the presumptive favorite for the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, and after he made waves at Team USA Olympic training camp as a member of the Select Team, he’ll be one of the most anticipated freshmen in years.

Proctor led the team with 3.7 assists last season, and he started 25 of the 32 games he played in 2023-24. As the only player within the rotation who has been with the Blue Devils for each of the past two seasons, he also makes total sense as a potential starter.

The last of the three obvious answers, Maluach was always intended to be a member of the starting lineup by conference play. The 18-year-old 7-footer could need some time to develop, so maybe he comes off the bench for a few early games, but considering that he already represented South Sudan at the Olympic Games, it’s more likely that he just slides in at the five from the start.

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1838702872638214611

The other two names are interesting, however.

Gillis made more than 46% of his 3-pointers with the Boilermakers last season, and the fifth-year senior provides a reliable perimeter shooting option. Returning sophomore Caleb Foster made more than 40% of his triples in 2023-24, so he could also be a candidate for the No. 2 spot, but head coach Jon Scheyer likely targeted Gillis with the intention of him starting or serving as a high-volume sixth man.

Knueppel, another five-star member of the 2024 recruiting class, has come on strong with his teammates and the fanbase over the summer. He looked great in offseason scrimmage content, and his teammates keep nominating him as the most impressive player on the roster.

Duke’s wing room is just incredibly crowded. Tulane transfer Sion James, a 6-foot-6 guard who averaged 14.0 points and 1.6 steals with the Green Wave last season, could be a big feature. Foster, who started games last year, could always slide into the backcourt if Scheyer wants more ball-handling. Fellow five-star freshman Isaiah Evans, who seems forgotten among the Knueppel hype, was named the best Charlotte high school basketball player from the last 40 years.

The Cameron Crazies can see whether Rothstein got it right during the season opener against Maine on November 4.

College basketball analyst ranks two Blue Devils among the country’s 10 best freshmen

College basketball analyst Andy Katz ranked the 10 best freshmen in the country on Monday, and a predictable name ended up atop the list.

It should come as no surprise after head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] ended up with six of the top 40 prospects in the Class of 2024, but the Duke men’s basketball team has some of the best freshman talent in the country.

College basketball analyst Andy Katz released a ranking of his top 10 freshmen for the 2024-25 season on Monday, and two Blue Devils debutants made his list.

Predictably, [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] ended up in the top spot. The most anticipated Duke commit since Zion Williamson finished as the No. 1 recruit on every national ranking after he led Montverde Academy to an undefeated season and a Chipotle Nationals victory.

Flagg even got the chance to cut his teeth against Team USA at Olympic training camp, playing against NBA legends as a member of the Select Team. The Duke star went viral for a sequence of back-to-back baskets in one scrimmage, earning praise from former NBA MVP Kevin Durant.

Katz also ranked [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag], the 7-foot-2 center from South Sudan, as the seventh-best first-year player in the country. Malauch recently represented his country at the Olympic Games at just 17 years old, the youngest basketball player in Paris.

Katz didn’t even include Isaiah Evans, a five-star who won North Carolina Mr. Basketball honors each of the past two years, or Kon Knueppel, the breakout star of the offseason who keeps rising up 2025 NBA draft boards.

No matter which combination of freshmen fans choose to place their faith in, the Blue Devils have the deepest stable of new talent in the country.

Caleb Foster named as one of the best defenders in college basketball by national analyst

Caleb Foster, one of two returning Duke basketball starters, is among the nation’s best defenders in the eyes of this analyst.

College basketball analyst Andy Katz continued his preseason rankings on Thursday with his list of the 16 best defenders in the sport, and Duke sophomore [autotag]Caleb Foster[/autotag] made the bottom of the list at 14th.

One of two returning starters on the roster, Foster made 27 appearances last season and averaged 7.7 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game before an ankle fracture ended his freshman season prematurely. The North Carolina native made more than 40% of his 3-point attempts and scored double-digit points in eight games, including an 18-point performance against the Michigan State Spartans in his third career game.

On the defensive end, Foster used his 6-foot-5 frame to his advantage with 16 total steals. He might not rack up the jaw-dropping highlights like five-star freshmen [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag], blocking shots into the stands thanks to their height and athleticism, but he and fellow returner Tyrese Proctor will handle the perimeter defense.

Despite Katz’s rankings, Foster might not even be the most productive perimeter defender on the Duke roster. Tulane transfer Sion James, a versatile 6-foot-6 guard, averaged at least 1.6 steals per game in each of his last three seasons with the Green Wave. He’s even tacked on 0.8 blocks per game over the last two seasons, and he could take the ACC by storm.

Duke left outside the top five in ESPN’s way-too-early 2024-25 college basketball rankings

Despite the Blue Devils bringing in top-ranked freshman Cooper Flagg, ESPN doesn’t have Duke as a top-five team in its early 2024-25 rankings.

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.

ESPN provides optimistic NBA draft outlook for Duke freshman Khaman Maluach

ESPN basketball writers Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo wrote about top 2025 draft prospects on Friday, including some optimism on Khaman Maluach.

Duke basketball brought in top-ranked freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] this offseason, the presumed No. 1 pick in next summer’s NBA draft, but he isn’t the only key prospect on the Blue Devils roster this year.

Head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] landed commitments from three other five-star prospects, including South Sudanese 7-footer [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag]. The NBA Academy Africa product represented his country at the 2024 Olympic Games, and at 17 years old, he was the youngest player in the competition.

ESPN basketball writers Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo released a Friday article elaborating on the most important college players to watch in 2024-25, and Woo sounded pretty bullish on Maluach’s chances to establish himself this fall and spring.

Woo pointed out that, while Maluach played pretty limited minutes in Paris, the incoming Blue Devil held his own against NBA MVPs and champions during a one-point exhibition loss to Team USA in July.

“Maluach’s above-average speed gives him a chance to be a high-impact player on defense,” Woo wrote. “He needs to work on positioning, awareness and patience as he habitually leaves his feet early to contest shots. But he has more tools than most players his age and size, pointing to his immense potential on that end.”

https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status/1834589737526411658

The optimism is a welcome change from recent trends around Maluach’s draft stock. When the rim protector first committed to the Blue Devils back in March, he was considered a slam-dunk top-five pick in the 2025 draft thanks to his tape and defensive ceiling. However, some uneven performances at exhibitions like the Nike Hoop Summit made fans question his learning curve for Division I basketball.

Combine that with the emergence of [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag], another five-star Duke signee and the darling of offseason workouts, and plenty of sites don’t even list Maluach as the second-best prospect on the Blue Devils anymore.

Even if Maluach looks more like his floor than his ceiling in November, he should be one of the best defenders in the country from the opening bell. He’ll be a shoo-in to average at least 1.5 blocks per game, and fans just need some patience if he looks rough around the edges before conference play.

Popular college basketball analytics site leaves Duke outside top five in talent rating

According to one popular college basketball analytics site, the Duke Blue Devils aren’t one of the five most talented teams in the country.

Each and every member of the Duke basketball fandom has their eyes turned toward the national championship next spring. After all, the school that won the [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] sweepstakes should expect nothing less.

The presumed No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft isn’t the only talented addition for this coming season, however. Three other five-star freshmen joined him in the signing class, including [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag], who just represented South Sudan at the Olympics.

Add in two other four-star freshmen, three high-end transfers, and two returning starters, and the Blue Devils might arguably be the most talented team in the country, right?

Not according to the popular basketball analytics site barttorvik.com. Torvik recently released its 2024-25 preseason projections, and the Blue Devils came in a measly sixth place in the Projected Effective Talent ranking.

Two-time defending national champion Connecticut took the top spot despite losing multiple lottery picks to the NBA. Illinois, Indiana, Virginia, and the dreaded North Carolina Tar Heels also finished above the Blue Devils in order.

To be fair to Torvik, the Blue Devils still finished second in its barthag calculations, which is what decides the site’s national rankings. According to Torvik’s calculations, Jon Scheyer’s squad would have a 95.08% chance of beating an average team, second only to Houston. Duke sits third in the site’s adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency, the only team within the top five in both categories.

Even with that level of Duke appreciation, however, the talent composite score feels head-scratching. After many analysts circled the Blue Devils as the team to beat back in May, there seems to be more and more national doubt centered around the number of freshmen expected to contribute to the 2024-25 season.

Torvik’s formula obviously won’t include such abstract questions, which makes the result even more curious. Yes, four-star sharpshooter Darren Harris likely won’t play much after he underwent surgery to fix a fractured hand, but he shouldn’t be the difference between first or second on the talent ranking and sixth.

Either way, however, the math still seems to believe in the Blue Devils.

Duke basketball star Cooper Flagg attends first Blue Devils football game of 2024

Duke basketball sensation Cooper Flagg and his new teammates attended the Blue Devils’ first football game of the year on Friday.

The Duke football team returned to Wallace Wade Stadium on Friday, and the biggest star on campus came out for the opening victory over Elon.

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], the top-ranked freshman in the Class of 2024, attended the first game of the year along with his new teammates.

Flagg, who recently announced an NIL sponsorship deal with New Balance, is the presumed No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft. He took the top spot in every major recruiting ranking, led his high-school team to an undefeated season and a Chipotle Nationals title, and even played for the Select Team at Team USA Olympic training camp.

He didn’t watch those scrimmages from the sidelines, either, with viral clips showing him dunking against NBA stars and scoring back-to-back baskets. Analysts already think he’ll play for the Americans at the 2028 Olympic Games, and some voices clamored for him to make the team in Paris this summer.

https://twitter.com/DukeMBB/status/1829703549485199637

All five of Flagg’s freshmen classmates, including South Sudanese Olympian [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] and fellow five-stars [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag] and [autotag]Isaiah Evans[/autotag], attended the game as well. Tulane transfer [autotag]Sion James[/autotag], in his first year with the team, also made an appearance.