Luke DeCock: In Duke's opener, Kon Knueppel was the Maine event, not Cooper Flagg

Luke DeCock, The News & Observer on Nov 4, 2024

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DURHAM, N.C. — This is what everyone came to see, the jaw-dropping debut of Duke’s latest freshman phenom, a player who immediately commanded the attention of everyone in Cameron from almost the first time he touched the ball.

He announced his arrival with authority, scoring 14 of Duke’s first 23 points of the season on his way to a game-high 22, as the Blue Devils dealt with Maine in reasonably comfortable fashion, 96-62.

Welcome to the bright lights of Duke basketball and big-time college hoops … Kon Knueppel?

The season may belong to Cooper Flagg, but the beginning belonged to Knueppel. For one night, the otherwise unaware may have wondered which freshman was the country’s No. 1 recruit, the one whose home state flagship was brought in to be the curtain-raising opponent. (Flagg’s younger brother, Ace, will stay home to play for Maine, and sat behind the Black Bears’ bench Monday.)

While Knueppel fired off 3-pointers, there’s a subtlety to Flagg’s game that may not lend itself to such extravagant first impressions, so the most heavily hyped Duke freshman since Zion Williamson didn’t have the same explosive Cameron debut that Williamson did against Army six years ago.

Flagg still did all the things that make him good. He altered shots that didn’t show up as blocks. He ran the point, briefly. He set up his teammates for open shots. He rebounded on a night when Duke struggled in that department.

He made a few shots and missed a few shots, failed to convert an inaccurately thrown alley-oop, had two big dunks — one driving down the lane from outside the 3-point line, the other on a fast break — but otherwise for the most part ceded the spotlight to his fellow freshman before leaving with four minutes to play with what looked like a cramp.

This may just end up being a typical Flagg stat line: 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals.

Knueppel is broader in the shoulders, more solidly built, and may lack the length or all-around skill set that has NBA scouts salivating over Flagg, but if he’s more uni-dimensional, it’s the most important dimension in the game. Against Maine, at least, he can flat-out score. Outside. Inside. While being fouled. Catch and shoot. Off the dribble.

He came in with a fraction of the hype that surrounded Flagg, but the world of college basketball actually was talking about Knueppel, at least the insiders paying attention to the early word filtering out of Duke. Knueppel’s wing shooting was the worst-kept secret of the postseason, and you didn’t have to be an NBA scout to decipher the strengths of his game Monday.

There’s a difference, of course, between playing Maine and the Kentucky-Arizona-Kansas triumvirate Duke will face over the next three weeks. There’s more space for someone like Knueppel against the Black Bears, and Flagg’s skills will almost certainly be more valuable — and more readily apparent — against bigger, faster, stronger opposition that extracts a greater price, demands a higher level.

So Flagg’s time is coming, and it’s not far away. Knueppel, on Monday, had his moment instead. But not all by himself: Of his three 3-pointers, two came off assists from Flagg.