By most reasonable measures, Duke’s 2024-25 season was a tremendous success. The Blue Devils finished 35-4, got to the Final Four and just missed getting to the championship game.
They accomplished this with three freshmen starters in Khaman Maluach, Kon Knueppel and Cooper Flagg.
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Maluach was a wonderful story and from all accounts a splendid person. Knueppel emerged as a major surprise and not all that far off from his transcendent teammate Flagg.
But Flagg…Flagg was something else again. Flagg is one of the few players we’ve ever seen who could legitimately play all five positions. Think about how small that list is. Magic Johnson could do it. Maybe Larry Bird could do it though Bird at the point might have been a stretch. It’s an extremely small list, needless to say, and Flagg is on it, or at least was in college.
Flagg lined up at forward, but really he didn’t have a position. Maybe you could call him just the Smart or the Queen, as in chess.
When he was injured during the ACC Tournament against Georgia Tech, naturally (Tech had a maddening wave of injuries last season), Flagg had to sit out the rest of the weekend, but it didn’t matter because Knueppel was able to pick up the slack.
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His draft stock went up sharply as people began to realize just how versatile the 6-6 freshman was and Duke won the ACC Tournament despite missing their star as Knueppel was named MVP.
All of that was remarkable and watching those two freshman soar was a privilege. At the same time though it underscored one of our few criticisms of Jon Scheyer’s brilliant takeover of Duke Basketball: he hasn’t yet been able to land a great point guard. And that was what Duke was missing last year.
Look at Duke’s losses from last season. The Blue Devils lost to Kentucky 77-72, Kansas 75-72, Clemson 77-71 and Houston, 70-67.
In each game, Flagg was asked to make a critical play at or near the end. Against Kentucky, he had two turnovers in the last minute. Against Kansas, Flagg had a turnover with :48 left with Duke down 73-72. Knueppel had one with :03 left as well.
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Against Clemson, Flagg slipped with :14 left and Duke down 73-71 (he was also playing sick).
And against Houston, Flagg missed a shot that might have put Duke up 70-67 with :08 left.
We don’t list these plays to suggest Flagg wasn’t what he was supposed to be. He was, and more.
But he was a freshman and freshmen don’t always play perfectly. And if Duke had had a natural point guard, he wouldn’t have put in those four situations in quite the same way.
However, great point guards don’t grow on trees and since 2014-15, Duke has had exactly two: Tyus and Tre Jones.
Mike Krzyzewski’s last Finał Four team featured Jeremy Roach at point guard and while Roach was an excellent player, Scheyer ultimately moved him off point.
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Just as a mental exercise, imagine what last year’s Duke team would have done with one of the following players on the roster: Tommy Amaker, Bobby Hurley, Quin Snyder, Jon Scheyer or either Jones.
Unfortunately, you can’t just wave a wand and get a great point guard. They’re rare. But Duke has two candidates at point and we’ll look at them in the next installment.
