On Wednesday, 247Sports released the final rankings for the 2024 class. In addition, Travis Branham, one of the site's national recruiting analysts, gave away 12 different top-tier players, two of which went to Duke basketball signees.
Branham's masterpiece, “Top Dog,'' is no surprise. After all, Blue Devil Award-winning and No. 1 overall prospect Cooper Flagg is a 6-foot-9, 200-pound phenom forward from Maine who attended powerhouse Montverde Academy (Florida). He is playing warm-up ball and gives off the air of generational talent. .
Another five-star Duke basketball player on Branum's list is Wisconsin Lutheran forward Conn Knuppel. He won “The Bucket”'s top award after regularly dropping 30 or more points as a senior en route to earning Mr. Basketball honors in Wisconsin.
Here are some of the things that struck Branham as he looked at perhaps the most overlooked part of the Blue Devils' 2024 Championship Game 6.
“Knuppel scores and does damage on the ball in a variety of ways and is one of the most polished players in the entire class. He's a deadly shot maker, and even though he's not the most athletic player. , has an elite feel for how to get to his position, use his body and score from all three levels…when Knuppel was actually the EYBL's leading scorer during the regular season. , it's hard to call anyone else the top scorer.
The 6-foot-5, 205-pound Con Knuppel, ranked No. 18 overall in the 247Sports 2024 Composite, is only No. 4 in John Scheyer's top-ranked collection.
Related: Knuppel's name the next Duke fan should know
Once again, Flagg finished in first place overall. As for the other four future Blue Devils players, NBA Academy Africa five-star big man Carman Maluha is No. 6, North Meck (North Carolina) five-star forward Isaiah Evans is No. 15 and Paul VI Catholic (Virginia) ranks fifth. Star center Patrick Gomba II was ranked 25th and Paul VI's five-star wing Darren Harris was ranked 38th.
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