With Cooper Flagg struggling and Duke’s season on the line, the Blue Devils’ other freshmen stepped up to deliver the program into Saturday’s national semifinals.
This hasn’t been the case all season: Flagg has delivered on gargantuan expectations with one of the most complete seasons by a freshman in Power Five history.
But he was not himself in the Elite Eight against Alabama. Facing the possibility of being eliminated in the regional finals for the second year in a row, the Blue Devils were carried past the Crimson Tide and into the Final Four matchup against Houston by leaning on two first-year players who have spent the year in Flagg’s shadow.
They were also five-star recruits. They also held offers from many of college basketball’s most elite programs. They also stepped right into the starting lineup, making this Duke team one of the most freshmen-heavy to ever reach the doorstep of the national championship. And they’ve also delivered at a moment when the last vestiges of COVID-era super seniors have made college basketball an older man’s game, relatively speaking.
Duke wouldn’t be two wins away from the sixth national championship in program history without guard Kon Knueppel and center Khaman Maluach, two high-profile offseason additions who in almost any other year would’ve popped onto the national radar long before the NCAA Tournament.
Knueppel’s ‘versatility is huge for us, and his size,’ said Duke coach Jon Scheyer. ‘He’s able to pass. He’s able to finish. You feel he’s always going to get off a good look because he has great pivots in the paint and great patience.’
‘He’s a phenomenal player,’ sophomore guard Caleb Foster said of Maluach. ‘To have a big like that who can catch lobs and defend the rim, it doesn’t get any better than that. I can’t even describe what he means to this team. He’s a big reason why we’re here.’
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Maluach, who was born in Rumbek, South Sudan, was the nation’s fourth-ranked prospect in last year’s recruiting class, according to 247Sports.com, sandwiched between a handful of surefire NBA draft lottery picks in Flagg, Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper of Rutgers and Baylor guard V.J. Edgecombe. The top-ranked player in Wisconsin, Knueppel came in No. 18 overall as the fifth-best small forward in the class.
While Maluach came in with far more hype, Knueppel has been a remarkably consistent second or third scoring option since the Blue Devils’ season opener against Maine.
He’s scored in double figures in all but seven of Duke’s 38 games, including 20 points in the Sweet 16 against Arizona and 21 points against the Crimson Tide. Knueppel is shooting 47.7% from the field, 40.1% from 3-point range and 91.2% from the free-throw line. Only once all season has played fewer than 20 minutes, logging 19 minutes in the opening-round win against Mount St. Mary’s.
Maluach took longer to acclimate himself to the college game. While his physical gifts have been obvious from the start – it’s hard to ignore his 9-foot-8 wingspan – Maluach struggled through foul trouble and finding a place in the Blue Devils’ system through the start of ACC play.
He was held to single-digit scoring 10 times in a 15-game span of conference play from late December through February, including a scoreless performance across 18 minutes in a win against Wake Forest and just three points and five rebounds in a loss to Clemson before fouling out after 20 minutes.
Since the ACC tournament, however, Maluach has made an enormous impact on both ends and helped Duke develop into the favorite at this year’s Final Four.
He’s averaging 11.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks across these past seven games, proving himself to be nearly unstoppable near the rim on the offensive end – Maluach has made 36 of 44 attempts from the field, including 20 of 23 in the tournament – while changing the way opponents challenge the Blue Devils in the paint.
Maluach’s ability to control the area near the hoop has helped Duke’s backcourt focus on stifling teams on the perimeter, aware that he’s around to clean up any mess that might sneak inside the 3-point line – like all great defensive big men, he’s become the eraser at the center of the Blue Devils’ scheme.
‘You just focus on the ball and you know your brother’s got your back,’ Foster said. ‘That’s how we play defense, and it helps he’s back there.’
Both players have saved their best play for the postseason. With Flagg making just 6 of 16 attempts against Alabama and struggling to get to his spots on the offensive end, Knueppel went 2 of 4 from behind the arc, made all five of his attempts from the line and added five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Maluach had 14 points, nine rebounds and a pair of blocks while playing a season-high 31 minutes.
This postseason impact has put Maluach and Knueppel in the mix for the top part of this year’s NBA draft; while Maluach’s size and athleticism had him on the NBA radar before the season, Knueppel’s evolution into a lottery pick has been more surprising.
According to USA TODAY Sports’ most recent NBA mock draft, Flagg is projected to go No. 1 overall, Knueppel is picked to go No. 5 and Maluach No. 7.
The way this pair has surged onto the national radar during the past month has helped make a case for this Duke freshmen class being counted among the top rookie groups in NCAA history – a case that would get even stronger should the No. 1 Blue Devils beat No. 1 Houston on Saturday night and then defeat the winner of the other semifinal between No. 1 Auburn and No. 1 Florida.
‘Now, we’ve had some pretty special classes, some freshman classes,’ said Scheyer. ‘I think this group, the way they’ve been so mature with really just being up for any challenge, the way they compete, the way they understand the game.
‘For me as a coach, it’s been amazing to have, to have guys that are always ready. As freshmen, that usually doesn’t happen all the time.’