You may have heard about an important matchup for Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday. They’re set to take on Jon Scheyer and the Duke Blue Devils in the Champions Classic — quite the first major test for the first-year coach in Lexington. Both teams are 2-0 on the year with blowouts against mediocre competition, ready to find out just how good they are and what they’re capable of on the big stage.
Blue-blood rivals with the entire college basketball world watching during prime time on ESPN? It doesn’t get much better than that.
What do you need to know about the sixth-ranked Blue Devils? KSR’s got your first preview of the competition with plenty more to come from Atlanta.
All eyes on Cooper Flagg
If he’s going to be the No. 1 pick, we should probably talk about him first. Right, Kerr Kriisa?
“Obviously the whole world is talking about Cooper Flagg, so we’re excited to play against the No. 1 draft pick. Congrats to him already,” the Kentucky guard said with clear sarcasm.
To be fair, though, the hype is deserved. Flagg is really, really good, a game-wrecking talent on both ends of the floor. Offensively, he’s fluid and runs like a gazelle as a face-up threat capable of knocking down shots while also embarrassing you with patience as a fundamentally sound post presence. He’s a high-level rebounder with grab-and-go abilities, as well, comfortable pushing the pace and making plays in transition.
Scouts don’t drool over him for those reasons, though. It’s the defense that separates Flagg from just about anyone, coming in as one of the best shot-blocking prospects in recent memory. The combination of length, instincts and timing is truly special while the 6-9 forward also boasts true 1-5 positional versatility. He can lock up guards on the perimeter and bigs down low — whatever the situation calls for.
Kentucky’s undoubtedly got its hands full coming up with a game plan to slow down the freshman averaging 15.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.5 blocks through two games.
Kon Knueppel is this year’s Reed Sheppard
It was right about this time last year Laurel County’s finest was starting to become a household name — Sheppard’s Champions Classic performance helped launch him into the national conversation. He went from consensus four-star status to the No. 3 pick in the draft as one of the shocking one-and-dones in recent memory. It was deserved, obviously, but widely unexpected.
Analysts learned their lesson with Knueppel — physically limited, but hilariously skilled as a scorer with a sky-high basketball IQ — by listing him as a consensus top-20 talent coming out of high school. Even that may have short-changed the Milwaukee native, though, as the four-star with questionable pro upside has emerged as one of the most productive players in college basketball. The competition has been weak, obviously, but 18.5 points on 56.5 percent shooting overall and 50 percent from three with 7.0 3-point attempts per game is unbelievable no matter who you’re playing.
He’s just a freshman, but he plays like a seasoned veteran, just like Sheppard did a year ago. Again, he’s not overly quick or explosive with some vulnerabilities as a creator when facing pressure, but the skill and savviness more than make up for those shortcomings. Flagg gets all of the attention, but Knueppel may be more dangerous at this level.
Tallest team in college basketball
In terms of size, Duke’s roster is comparable to some of those early Kentucky teams under John Calipari, a group with no rotation pieces shorter than 6-5. Caleb Foster is the lead guard at 6-5 with Tyrese Proctor at 6-6 and Knueppel at 6-7 joining him in the backcourt. As for the frontcourt, Flagg is 6-9 at the four spot while Khaman Maluach is 7-2 at the five.
Off the bench, Sion James and Mason Gillis are top guard contributors at 6-6 while Maliq Brown backs up Maluach at 6-9. Even the back-of-rotation guys, Isaiah Evans and Darren Harris, are 6-6.
They’re not twigs, either, with Foster (202), James (220), Gillis (225), Knueppel (217), Harris (203), Flagg (205), Maluach (250) and Brown (222) all clearing the 200-pound mark, as well.
Kentucky’s got some grown man strength with seven super seniors and nine guys with prior DI experience — seven total players hitting the 6-5, 200-pound threshold including freshmen — but Duke holds the overall size advantage.
Finding experience among the inexperienced
Kentucky has its oldest team in program history, entering the season with 586 combined starts — now 596 with two games under the team’s belt. That’s good for fifth-oldest in college basketball this season with an average of 3.13 years of experience across the 12-man roster. As for Duke and its high-profile diaper dandies, the Blue Devils rank No. 140 overall nationally in DI experience with an average of 1.94 years under their belts.
Tulane transfer Sion James and Purdue transfer Mason Gillis are the only seniors on the roster — both fifth-years — while returnee Tyrese Proctor and Syracuse transfer Maliq Brown are both juniors. Then Caleb Foster rounds out rotation pieces with experience as a returning sophomore.
Of that group, Proctor (12.0), James (11.5) and Foster (11.0) are all double-figure scorers through two games while Gillis (9.0) is right behind that group. And though Flagg, Kneuppel and Maluach steal the attention as freshmen, the roster is balanced with eight Blue Devils averaging at least 20.0 minutes per contest and none surpassing the 29.0 mark.
It’s not an old group by any means, but of the experience Scheyer added or brought back, they’re all producing.
