Four Duke Basketball Players Among Experts' Preseason Top 85

Top-shelf guards and wings are abundant this Duke basketball season.

Duke basketball guard Tyrese Proctor / Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images

Ahead of 2024-25 college hoops officially tipping off in less than two weeks, CBS Sports' Gary Parrish, Kyle Boone, and Matt Norlander released their annual ranking of "The Top 100 and 1 Best Players" in the country. Four of their top 85 are on Jon Scheyer's third Duke basketball roster, which lists each of those Blue Devils as a guard or guard/forward.

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And two are rookies, beginning with 17-year-old phenom forward and projected top overall 2025 draft pick Cooper Flagg. At No. 3 in the expert trio's eyes, the 6-foot-9, 205-pound Maine native ranks below one ACC player in archrival UNC's defending ACC Player of the Year, graduate guard RJ Davis.

Here's what Parrish noted about Flagg's potential to shine in the face of an ultra-bright Blue Devil spotlight:

"Will Flagg live up to expectations and become the youngest Wooden Award winner in college basketball history while helping Jon Scheyer advance to his first Final Four as a coach? As always, we'll see. But there's no doubting that the 6-9 forward from Maine is a generational talent who can and does impact winning in a variety of ways — from scoring to rebounding to passing and guarding. There's real substance behind the hype."

Duke basketball junior guard Tyrese Proctor, the only returning captain from the trio that led last season's Blue Devils, appears at No. 44. As Parrish pointed out, that's a 30-spot drop from where the 20-year-old Australian, whose various nagging injuries as a sophomore limited his next step toward bonafide stardom, stood at this time last year.

As for the other Blue Devil freshman guard/forward on CBS Sports' list, Kon Knueppel, a lights-out sharpshooter and savvy playmaker in preseason action thus far, sits at No. 48. That relatively lofty ranking aligns with the growing number of 2025 NBA mock drafts pointing to the former five-star Wisconsin prep joining Flagg as a one-and-done in Durham, potentially also as a first-rounder.

Finally, sophomore guard Caleb Foster, looking to build on a promising 2023-24 individual campaign that got cut short due to a right ankle injury in late February, checks in at No. 83.

After welcoming legendary back-to-back Duke basketball national champion floor general Bobby Hurley and his Arizona State squad to Cameron Indoor Stadium for the inaugural Brotherhood Run charity exhibition at 7 p.m. ET Sunday (ACC Network), the No. 7-ranked Blue Devils will gear up to host Maine in their season opener at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 4 (ACC Network).

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Stay tuned to Duke Blue Devils On SI for more Duke basketball news.