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3 Duke Basketball Stars Sixers Could Watch vs Mount St Mary's

Cooper Flagg and Duke Basketball should be on the Sixers' radar on Friday.

Justin Grasso

Mar 3, 2025; Durham, North Carolina, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Kon Knueppel (7) forward Cooper Flagg (2) guard Tyrese Proctor (5) and forward Isaiah Evans (3) react during the second half against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils won 93-60. Mandatory Credit: Rob Kinnan-Imagn Images
Mar 3, 2025; Durham, North Carolina, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Kon Knueppel (7) forward Cooper Flagg (2) guard Tyrese Proctor (5) and forward Isaiah Evans (3) react during the second half against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils won 93-60. Mandatory Credit: Rob Kinnan-Imagn Images / Rob Kinnan-Imagn Images
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On Friday, Duke Basketball will take part in its first matchup of the NCAA March Madness Tournament in 2025. This year, Duke has three notable prospects the Philadelphia 76ers will have to keep a close eye on.

With the Sixers coming up way short of their early expectations heading into the 2024-2025 NBA season, they are on pace to potentially have a top-six draft pick. Currently, Duke Basketball has two players projected in the top 10.

Cooper Flagg enters the NCAA Tournament as the projected No. 1 overall pick. Since his high school playing days, Flagg was earning top-selection hype for the pros.

Recently, Flagg had an injury scare during Duke’s ACC Tournament play. After going down with an ankle injury scare, Flagg was officially cleared by Duke Basketball to play on Friday.

Kon Knueppel is another name to keep an eye on in the matchup against Mount St. Mary’s. The Milwaukee-born freshman played in 34 games this season. He averaged 14 points on 47 percent shooting from the field, knocking down 39 percent of his threes. He is viewed as a top-three shooting guard in the 2025 NBA Draft.

The freshman center Khaman Maluach is another Duke Basketball prospect to earn top-10 hype heading into the tournament. Coming from South Sudan, Maluach is a product of the NBA Academy in Senegal. Last year, he committed to Duke as a top-five recruit.

The 7’2” center appeared in 34 games this year. He made nearly 70 percent of his field goals, averaging eight points per game. He also accounted for seven rebounds and one block per game.

Duke vs. Mount St Mary’s is slated for a 2:50 PM ET tip-off.

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Justin Grasso
JUSTIN GRASSO

Title: Credentialed writer/reporter covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation Email: JustinGrasso32@Gmail.com Location: Philadelphia, PA Expertise: Reporting, insight, and analysis on the Sixers and the NBA  Justin Grasso is a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation.  Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writer’s Association.  Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoNBA

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