Youth was the way for the Duke Blue Devils’ men’s basketball team this past season. Their oldest starter, a fifth-year graduate student senior, could be a match for the Warriors with their second-round draft pick in three weeks.

Duke’s three freshmen, Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, and Khaman Maluach, are all likely to be top-10 picks in the 2025 NBA Draft. The trio led the storied program to their best season under coach Jon Scheyer, reaching the Final Four and losing in devastating fashion down the stretch to Houston. Still, their 35-4 record matched Coach K’s final championship team a decade ago in 2015. They left their mark in their one and only season in Durham. 

So did Sion James. 

The Georgia native spent his first four years of college at Tulane, where he progressively improved ove

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