Duke basketball sits at 8-2 on the young season with a marquee victory over #2 Auburn at home on December 4th.
Jon Scheyer brought in arguably the best recruiting class ever headlined by four 5-star recruits. The team brought in a few veteran transfers and kept its veteran backcourt of Caleb Foster and Tyrese Proctor, but it was well known throughout the preseason that this team would be led by the talented group of freshmen.
Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, and Khaman Maluach have been the three 5-star freshmen seeing consistent minutes in each game so far for the Blue Devils, and the fourth in Isaiah Evans is seeing his minutes increase as the season progresses after not playing against Kentucky or Kansas.
With such a tough non-conference schedule the Blue Devils had, it was a big question whether the freshmen would be able to adapt so quickly into their collegiate careers and compete against top-tier competition.
Scheyer highlighted the maturity of the freshmen after the team's victory over Incarnate Word, that came after just one day of rest after the Blue Devils beat Louisville on the road.
"For our freshmen, their maturity despite their age, I think is high level. They want to learn the game, and they want to just understand how to play, not just score the ball, but they want to understand how to play."
All three freshmen certainly saw some growing pains against Duke's losses against Kansas and Kentucky. Getting sped up, making poor decisions leading to turnovers, just natural freshman mistakes.
But as each game goes on and now experiencing a quick turnaround with two games in three days, they're now getting the feel of a potential NCAA Tournament scenario.
"I know we have those quick turn-arounds (in the ACC)," Scheyer said. "And to get that experience, I think for our guys, for our freshmen, were a little bit knocked back with, just, two big time games last week and the readiness from a physical standpoint, they have to be on point for."
The Blue Devils will have two more instances of playing two games in three days, but those don't come until mid February and early March.
The freshmen class has continued to develop and polish their games throughout the season, and despite two ranked losses, the young guys are consistently getting better and will be ready for a physically challenging ACC slate that is on the horizon.