Duke basketball players debate best defender during first intrasquad scrimmage

The expectation is that the Duke basketball team will be one of the best defensive teams in the country this season given the size and length that Jon Scheyer accumulated this offseason and the debate about who is the best player is already beginning.

The Blue Devils reported for its first team practice of the summer on Wednesday afternoon and participated in its first intrasquad scrimmage on Thursday.

As usual, the Duke social media team was there to capture the footage and had a question for the players as they returned to the locker room, "Who was the best defender in the scrimmage today?"

The answers varied from the players but one player stood out above the rest, Syracuse transfer Maliq Brown.

Brown was named to the All-ACC Defensive Team last season with the Orange and led the ACC in steals with 71. He became the first center ever to lead the conference in steals.

Tyrese Proctor, Khaman Maluach, and Caleb Foster all said that Brown was the best defender.

"Deflections everywhere," Proctor said.

Foster joked saying, "Outside of me, definitely going to say Maliq Brown. He had a lot of steals and deflections."

In his vote during the video, Brown said 7-foot-2 center Khaman Maluach was the best defender. He credited Maluach's long wingspan as the reason why he was the best defender.

Maluach, like most of the others, also highlighted the deflections that Brown had.

Cooper Flagg made an appearance in the clip and casted a vote for himself.

Duke teased the potential release of the scrimmage on social media. The program gave several in-depth looks at the Blue Devils last season during their summer workouts.

The social media team has already published videos of each player doing individual drills during the first day of summer workouts.