DURHAM, N.C. — Like Duke needed its spotlight turned up any brighter.
But that’s inevitable now, after the Blue Devils thrashed Arizona State 103-47 in their final preseason exhibition on Sunday. A charity game that was initially hailed as ASU coach Bobby Hurley’s return to Cameron Indoor instead quickly became Duke’s coming-out party at ASU’s expense.
“Hats off to where they are,” said Hurley, still the NCAA’s all-time assists leader from his time as Duke’s point guard in the 1990’s, “and ‘oh s—’ to where we are right now.”
A 56-point blowout, obviously, says as much about Arizona State, picked 12th in the Big 12 preseason poll, as it does Duke. But Duke?
Duke Basketball ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/W4NCGhPaOR
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) October 28, 2024
Hurley, who won two titles at Duke, and whose brother Dan won the last two national championships at UConn, knows as well as anyone what a true contender looks like. And?
“I’ve seen a lot of good teams — like, over the years — to think yeah, they’ve got a chance to be really good,” Hurley said. “Right now, they looked really good to me.”
That’s good news for Duke, since the games count from here on out. With Duke’s season opener against Maine now just a week away, let’s recap what I’ve learned about the Blue Devils this preseason, both what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard in conversations with program sources.
Expected starters and rotation
Duke has the lineup depth to reasonably go nine-deep this season, but against ASU, Jon Scheyer went with the fivesome that will start in the regular season: Tyrese Proctor, Caleb Foster, Kon Knueppel, Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach.
That group wasn’t predetermined but emerged early on in Duke’s summer workouts — especially after Maluach returned from the Olympics, where he competed for South Sudan. As the only rotational returners from last season, Proctor and Foster were expected starters; so were Flagg and Maluach, the team’s top two recruits.
But Knueppel’s emergence this summer as one of the team’s best players was not something Duke’s staff was necessarily expecting. Sure, the 6-foot-7 wing was the No. 18 recruit nationally, per the 247Sports Composite, and Duke expected he’d be a contributor. But it’s entirely possible that Knueppel — who made four second-half 3s and scored a game-high 19 points — leads the Blue Devils in scoring this season. He’s been one of the team’s best shooters all summer, but even when his shot isn’t falling, like in the first half against ASU, he finds ways to impact the game. Case in point: Knueppel went 1-for-5 before intermission, scoring just four points, but still had five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
“I mean, that’s what he does. He can do a lot on the court, but his strength is obviously shooting,” Flagg said of his fellow freshman. “When he gets hot, it’s definitely going to be hard to guard him.”
Duke’s first three players off the bench were Maliq Brown, Mason Gillis, and Sion James. Bringing two grad students and a junior off the bench may not seem consequential, but it seemingly validates Scheyer’s offseason roster makeover, when he jettisoned four former five-star recruits in favor of experience around his star-studded freshman class. Brown struggled with foul trouble against ASU and was limited to just 17 minutes, but James and Gillis combined for 23 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and five made 3s (on just seven attempts). Flagg specifically credited Gillis for helping him improve his post defense, the exact sort of benefit Scheyer was hoping for when he recruited the former Purdue wing out of the transfer portal.
Those eight should make up the bulk of Duke’s rotation. Freshman Darren Harris was Duke’s ninth man to enter the game, and finished with 10 points — and two more made 3s — in just 13 minutes. Perhaps the biggest surprise to the masses? That freshman wing Isaiah Evans, the No. 14 recruit in the class, was Duke’s 10th man, playing just under 12 minutes of mostly garbage time. Evans has immense shooting potential, but he’s inconsistent and is still a work in progress defensively. Until he figures that end out, there’s going to be an inherent cap on his role because …
The pivot in Scheyer’s coaching philosophy
When Scheyer first took over for the retiring Mike Krzyzewski, he called former Duke All-American Shane Battier to discuss the program he was inheriting. Battier asked Scheyer what values first came to mind when he thought of Duke basketball. Scheyer responded immediately:
Competition.
“It’s about being all in, and then going to earn what you want,” Scheyer said.
This summer’s roster overhaul, and Duke’s play style as a result, is a call back to that totem. Despite being full-time starters at their previous schools, James (Tulane) and Brown (Syracuse) still opted to transfer to Duke last spring without the guarantee of the same role. Evans arrived in Durham with a loftier recruiting pedigree than Knueppel, but Knueppel’s performance this summer earned him a larger role. The result of that philosophy? A team that already stands out for — in Scheyer’s words — “how hard we played and how connected we were.”
That mentality also fits naturally with Duke’s talent, and specifically, its best attributes. In Scheyer’s first season as head coach, the Blue Devils finished with the nation’s No. 16 adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom, but were a top-10 unit in the final month of the season. Last season, though, Duke’s offense outpaced its defense; the Blue Devils once again were 16th in adjusted defensive efficiency, but finished with the eighth-best adjusted offensive efficiency, per KenPom — compared to a 40th-place finish in Scheyer’s first season. Playing three guards was an offensive boon last season, but Duke’s energy, and ability to get a stop when necessary, was less consistent than the defense-oriented group in Scheyer’s debut campaign.
So this offseason, Scheyer pivoted back to the intensity he preferred — and therefore, a newfound focus on defense. Not having a rotation player under 6 feet 5 means Duke has NBA-like length, making it difficult for teams to get into their actions. Of particular importance there: the frontcourt of Flagg and Maluach, both of whom possess wingspans over 7-feet, and who will be a massive deterrent to any opponent who challenges them in the paint. Arizona State finished the game with more turnovers (18) than made shots (16), was out-rebounded by 16 and scored only 14 points in the paint all night.
“That’s what we want to do to everybody,” Gillis said. “That’s what we preach every day in practice: how good we can be on defense. We’re not there all the way yet, but we’re taking steps.”
Cooper Flagg still coming on
Duke was in the national championship conversation well before Sunday’s throttling, largely on the strength of its stupendous freshmen. With college basketball as experienced as it has ever been, it’s become increasingly rare for first-year players to dominate out of the gate. But the Blue Devils’ No. 1-ranked recruiting class might be the exception to that standard.
Atop that list, of course, is Flagg, the top-ranked player in the 2024 class and the early front-runner to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. The 6-foot-9 wing was fine Sunday — he finished with nine points, four rebounds, and three assists — but nothing special. (In Duke’s previous exhibition vs. D-II Lincoln, Flagg was much more potent: a team-high 22 points, two made 3s, six assists, four blocks, and two rebounds.)
Here’s the thing, though: Duke has enough pieces around Flagg that he doesn’t have to be “the guy” every night. I wouldn’t expect Flagg to lead the team in scoring this season, or even most nights, because he doesn’t have to. What I would expect? Plenty of 13-point, seven-assist, six-rebound, two-block games, where his all-around impact can be felt more clearly.
And, of course, the occasional 25- or 30-point breakout. Flagg has a history of showing up for big stages, so I’m penciling in that Kentucky game Nov. 12 in the Champion’s Classic — Duke’s first marquee nonconference contest — as a night to watch.
(Photo of Duke’s Kon Knueppel and Arizona State’s Jayden Quaintance: Grant Halverson / Getty Images)
