DURHAM, N.C. — By the standards of most men’s college basketball programs, Jon Scheyer’s first two seasons at the helm of the Blue Devils since taking over for the retired coaching legend Mike Krzyzewski would be considered enormous success.
In Scheyer’s first season, Duke won the ACC Tournament and cut down the nets at the Greensboro Coliseum. Last season, the Blue Devils followed that up with a trip to the Elite Eight where they lost to North Carolina State.
At Duke, the standard set by Krzyzewski over his 42 years guiding the Blue Devils was regularly making the Final Four and competing for national championships.
Under the guidance of Coach K, Duke won five national titles and played in 13 Final Fours.
This season, a reloaded roster headlined by a player that many expect to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Duke aims to be a contender once again. The goal this season for the Blue Devils is nothing short of hanging a meaningful banner inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“I’ve been through two NCAA tournaments now and haven’t got as far as I wanted to,” said junior guard Tyrese Proctor, the only returning starter for Duke. “When we went down, it fueled us even more for this year. I feel like my whole summer was targeted towards that last season and just trying to improve every day as a group.”
Aside from Proctor, Duke brings back just one other player who played more than 10 minutes per game in sophomore guard Caleb Foster. The Blue Devils brought in 10 new players in the offseason: six freshmen and four transfers.
And none of them come with more hype than Cooper Flagg.
The wing from Newport, Maine signed with the Blue Devils over offers from every other major program you can think of, including UConn, the two-time defending national champions. Long before inking his national letter of intent, he was already being talked about as a top pick in next year’s NBA Draft, and someone who could power a program to a national championship. Before even taking a dribble in his first college basketball game, Flagg has already inked a lucrative NIL deal with New Balance and has already been named to the Associated Press preseason All-American team.
“For me, it’s about just having fun,” Flagg said. “When I’m having fun, I’m able to bring so much energy. Something that’s become very important as I’ve gone through the levels of basketball is just the talk. Talk is so key, so important to being in the right spots, having teammates’ backs. Just having that energy, having that talk, just comes from having fun and wanting to do it for my teammates.”
While Flagg’s 6-foot-9 frame allows him to grab rebounds and defend bigger players inside, he also has the combination of speed, athleticism and ball-handling to attack any opponent off the dribble from the perimeter. And even if a defender does keep Flagg in front of them, he also has the form and accuracy to knock down 3-pointers and mid-range pull-up jumpers with ease.
One of his handful of highlights in Duke’s 103-47 exhibition win over Arizona State was catching a pass from Proctor in-stride and throwing down a two-handed jam on a fast break.
But in practice and these preseason contests, Scheyer has been most impressed with Flagg’s defense. Against Division II Lincoln, Flagg had four blocks, along with 22 points and six assists.
“He has this it-factor that you can’t explain, where he just makes everybody around him better,” Scheyer said. “His unselfishness – when your best player is not searching for stats, it has such an amazing impact on the rest of your team. That’s what he does. He guards whoever you ask him too.”
In addition to Flagg, Duke’s freshman class also includes 7-foot-2 Khaman Maluach from South Sudan, five-star prospects Isaiah Evans and Kon Knueppel, and two products from Fairfax, Virginia’s Paul VI Catholic High School in 6-foot-11 Patrick Ngongba II and 6-foot-6 Darren Harris. All six of Duke’s freshmen ranked in the top 40 of 247sports’ 2024 rankings.
Through the transfer portal, Scheyer added Syracuse’s Maliq Brown who led the ACC last season in steals (71) and 2-point shooting percentage (73.6), Rice starter Cameron Sheffield, Tulane starter Sion James, and Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year Mason Gillis, who had eight points and four rebounds in Purdue’s Final Four win over NC State.
“We’re a deep team this year. We’re going to have bodies and we’re going to be able to rotate quicker,” Proctor said. “We’re picking up full court and playing that old Duke basketball and trying to ramp the offense up, getting stops, just making them overthink. The offense will take care of itself.”
–Mitchell Northam, Field Level Media
