The best player on floor in recent Duke scrimmage, and it wasn't Cooper Flagg
10/03/2024 05:31 PM
Since Jon Scheyer took over as the head coach of the Duke basketball program ahead of the 2022-23 season, he’s been on a pretty steady upward trajectory. Consider, the Blue Devils were bounced out of the NCAA Tournament in the 2nd Round in 2023, and then advanced to the Elite Eight in 2024. Signs of progress, right?
Well, this upward trajectory isn’t just limited to on-court success. It’s about what Scheyer has done in the recruiting game as well. Duke’s incoming recruiting class not only features Cooper Flagg, who may be the most highly touted high school prospect since (take your choice of LeBron James, Kevin Durant or Anthony Davis), but also five more players who were ranked by 247Sports as top 40 prospects in the 2024 class.
This class includes the likes of Khaman Maluach, who spent the summer playing for the South Sudanese Olympic team, Isaiah Evans, and Kon Knueppel, who was the star of a recent set of Duke scrimmages that ESPN’s Jonathan Givony had the opportunity to watch.
“Kon Knueppel was the best player on the floor for Duke — and it wasn’t particularly close — while helping his team win all three scrimmages,” wrote Givony.
Kon Knueppel, who signed with Duke last November and then enrolled in June in order to be able to take part in summer practices, was the No. 18 ranked prospect in the country and the No. 1 player in the state of Wisconsin, according to 247Sports. The 6’7″ Knueppel had his full repertoire on display for Jonathan Givony and eight NBA scouts to see.
“Knueppel already looks like he might be one of the best shooters in the ACC from Day 1. His NBA intrigue is going to revolve around his ability to spot up and shoot pull-up 3s like he did all afternoon with balance, footwork and confidence,” Givony said, before offering praise for Knueppel’s skills as a distributor and his defensive effort.
“He’s also a capable distributor, lifting up Maluach for a lob finish out of pick-and-roll in one instance, and whipping the ball all over with touch and bounce passes to cutters and kickouts after crashing the offensive glass with physicality. Defensively, he’s competitive and strong, fighting over screens and getting back into plays when beat. It was difficult to nitpick with how complete and serious-minded a player he appears to be.”
Givony projects that Knueppel will be the starting small forward for Duke at the beginning of the season, and sees the freshman as a potential top-ten pick come next June.
Cooper Flagg hype train still rolling along full steam ahead
Even though Kon Knueppel was the Blue Devil who was given the “best player on the floor” tag by Jonathan Givony, there’s certainly no debate as to whose team this is.
“I have total belief when we step on the floor that we feel we have the best player on the court right away,” Scheyer said of Cooper Flagg. But even that praise is tame compared to what someone at Duke’s practice had to say about the 17-year-old freshman phenom.
“Cooper Flagg is a savant. His brain, processing speed, awareness and basketball instincts are ridiculous,” Givony recalled.
This is about the same degree of praise that was being heaped upon Cooper Flagg when he was leading the USA Select Team in scrimmages against the eventual Gold Medal winners at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Don’t expect it to stop any time soon.
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