Looking For Problems Where They Don’t Exist

In other words, nitpicking Cooper Flagg

This article about Cooper Flagg sort of hits and sort of misses on the main point.

And what is that main point?

The main question is this: is Duke overly reliant on Flagg? That’s a problem a lot of teams would love to have.

This requires a two-part answer. The first part is general: of course Duke is going to rely on Flagg, especially on defense. He’s highly unusual because not only is he capable of guarding 1-5 on the court at any given time, his instincts go beyond his physical talents. Defensively, Flagg is like the queen on a chessboard: he can see things other players can’t. And by other players, we mean guys who are a decade older.

The second part is naturally offense. We really haven’t seen Flagg go into takeover mode yet, not really.

In the article linked above, Tim Donnelly is quoted as pointing out that Flagg took 35 percent of Duke’s shots against George Mason and that an off-night could be a big concern.

Granted, but he doesn't really shoot that much. Granted, against Kentucky, he took 19 of Duke’s 71 shots. Against Arizona, it was 22 out of 61.

Against Auburn, it was 18 out of 58.

But against Wofford, he took eight out of 62, against Seattle, he took seven of 28, and against Incarnate Word, it was eight out of 55.

Why the discrepancy? Well, obviously talent and the level of competition is the easy answer. Kentucky, Arizona and Auburn are very tough opponents and Wofford, Seattle and UIW are less so.

But there is another factor: Kon Knueppel’s offensive struggles.

Against Kentucky, he shot 1-8 from behind the line and 5-20 overall.

Against Arizona, he was 4-11 overall and 3-6 from behind the line.

Against Kansas? 4-14/0-8.

Against Auburn? 2-3/0-1.

In his last five games, Knueppel, a fine outside shooter, has hit just 7-22 (31.8) from behind the line and his overall shooting has been 15-33 (45.4%).

That’s not atrocious shooting, but it’s not what he’s probably used to. It’s not exactly a slump but it’s not razor sharp either.

Khaman Maluach’s relatively anemic offensive output is a factor too. While he had 17 against UIW, the last time he hit double figures prior to that was against Wofford.

In other words, if Flagg doesn’t shoot, who will? It’s not really a red flag or concern about Flagg as much as it is about the rest of the team. But it’s not necessarily a major problem either.

First, Evans appears to be emerging as a major offensive weapon and he should be able to shoulder some of the offensive burden.

Second, at some point Knueppel will get back to his mean, which will also help take some of the burden off of Flagg.

And we haven’t really seem Mason Gillis heat up yet either, and he was an excellent three point shooter at Purdue, nor a lot of offense from Caleb Foster, who is capable of much more.

These are solvable problems. As we saw at Kansas, the Jayhawks focused on Flagg intensively, often double-teaming him and his teammates weren’t ready to step up. You certainly can’t do that with Evans on the floor and in general, Duke has grown up a lot since then.

The biggest worry we have is that Flagg decides he has to shoot more than he should. That seems unlikely though: among his many gifts, he has a grasp of the game that’s beyond his years. He tried to do too much against Kentucky and has applied those lessons. The guy is focused on winning more than anything else. Therefore, the ceiling on this team is still incredibly high.