Mike Krzyzewski Didn’t Hesitate to Name Duke\u2019s Best Player Aside from Cooper Flagg<\/p>\n
With the NCAA Tournament on the horizon, much of the focus has been on freshman standout Cooper Flagg and his recovery after spraining his ankle in the ACC Tournament, which caused him to miss the final two games, both of which Duke won.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, former Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski shared his insights on how the Blue Devils performed without Flagg during a recent episode of his podcast, “Basketball & Beyond with Coach K.”<\/p>\n
Krzyzewski quickly singled out fellow freshman Kon Knueppel as a major factor in the team’s success, praising him as not only the second-best player on the Blue Devils but also the second-best in the entire ACC.<\/p>\n
“I think it showed the world how good Kon Knueppel is, which I’ve been saying all year. I can’t believe he’s not first-team all-conference. Outside of Flagg, the next best player in the [ACC] is Kon Knueppel. I really love that kid\u2014his ability to get the loose ball, grab offensive rebounds, or get on the floor is incredible. He can really shoot it, he’s tough, plays defense, and I think he showed out even more.”<\/p>\n
Kon Knueppel has often flown under the radar for the Blue Devils this season, frequently overshadowed by Cooper Flagg\u2019s remarkable achievements.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Knueppel has been an essential part of the team\u2019s success. His contributions have helped Duke not only achieve 30 wins and a No. 1 seed in March Madness but also win the ACC regular season and conference tournament titles.<\/p>\n
Heading into the tournament, Knueppel is averaging 14.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.7 assists, while shooting 39.2% from three-point range and an impressive 91.4% from the free-throw line. He scored 18 points in the ACC Championship against Louisville and 17 points in the semifinals against North Carolina.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mike Krzyzewski Didn’t Hesitate to Name Duke\u2019s Best Player Aside from Cooper Flagg With the NCAA Tournament on the horizon, much of the focus has been on freshman standout Cooper Flagg and his recovery after spraining his ankle in the ACC Tournament, which caused him to miss the final two games, both of which Duke […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2774],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-duke-blue-devils"],"yoast_head":"\n