Exhibition games have marked the unofficial start of the 2024-25 NCAA Basketball season, giving us our first looks at several teams across the country.
Between “secret” scrimmages and high-profile exhibition matchups, the NCAA Basketball ecosystem has developed a preseason of sorts. None of these televised games count officially, but the events serve as our first glimpse into the 2024-25 season.
Obviously, results need to be taken with a grain of salt. Coaches often use this time to tinker with rotations, test out new combinations or role allocations, or allow the guys at the end of the bench the opportunity to earn more playing time.
That being said, some trends carry into the regular season. For instance, Dalton Knecht’s performance in Tennessee’s victory over Michigan State in an exhibition last season laid the foundation for his breakout year. So what have we learned so far? The first Rauf Report of the season looks at five exhibition takeaways from across the country:
Duke has the highest ceiling in the country
Duke’s roster is loaded with talented freshmen and impact transfers to pair with two returners in Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster. That talent is why the Blue Devils are ranked No. 7 in the AP preseason Top 25. The fact most of the roster is freshmen and have yet to play together before is why Duke isn’t ranked higher.
Those questions may still be valid as there is a lot about this team we don’t yet know. What we do know, however, is that Duke may be able to find a level of play that no one else in the country can touch.
Jon Scheyer’s squad is projected to be elite defensively on paper. They have size at every position — the 6-5 Foster is the only player on the roster under 6-6 — and a trio of high-quality rim protectors in Cooper Flagg, Khaman Maluach and Maliq Brown. Duke’s size and aggressiveness should wreak havoc on opponents, as it forced 18 turnovers against both Lincoln (PA) and Arizona State while holding them to a combined 9-of-39 shooting (23.1 percent) from 3-point range.
The rim protection appears to be as advertised, too. The Blue Devils completely shut Arizona State out of the lane — the Sun Devils shot just 28.1 percent as a team in their 103-47 loss to Duke — while Maluach made things look easy in the middle.
What was not as obvious on paper was how special Duke looked offensively. There isn’t a true point guard on this team but there are a slew of gifted passers who keep the ball moving, and they know how to find open shooters.
Flagg is phenomenal at this, and the projected No. 1 pick has already shown the many ways he can impact the game without scoring. But the freshman that has been catching everyone’s eye is Kon Knueppel, as his long-distance marksmanship and overall knack for scoring already have the attention of NBA scouts.
There figures to be more elite teams across college basketball, providing parity at the top of the sport. However, none of the other elite teams — even two-time defending champion UConn — appear to have the same ceiling as Duke.
Virginia might be bad bad
Sticking with the ACC, Virginia has been an interesting team to follow in the preseason given Tony Bennett’s surprise retirement. Lead assistant Ron Sanchez has taken over the head coaching duties for the season, and that shouldn’t be a surprise given he utilizes the same system and is familiar with the roster.
That being said, it’s also clear the offensive overhaul that Bennett promised this offseason won’t come to fruition. When Sanchez was the head coach at Charlotte, his teams were even more deliberate on that end.
It’s hard to imagine, but there’s a chance Virginia’s offense is even worse than it was a season ago.
The Wahoos finished 200th in adjusted offensive efficiency last season, per KenPom, and lost their best/only creator in Reece Beekman. Transfers Dai Dai Ames (Kansas State), TJ Power (Duke) and Jalen Warley (Florida State) were supposed to add some pop, yet none of the trio have delivered to this point.
Again, this team hasn’t played a real game yet and they may improve. Still, much of the offseason belief in this team centered around Bennett’s ability to get the most out of these pieces. That trust won’t transfer over to Sanchez until he earns it, and it’s obvious that this team has a long way to go.
Boogie Fland looks ready for his close-up
John Calipari’s best teams have always had at least one electric guard who could create for himself off the bounce. Whether that was at UMass, Memphis or Kentucky, this prototype has been a trademark of his strongest rosters.
Calipari’s first Arkansas team has a couple of candidates who could be that guy. DJ Wagner was a former No. 1 prospect in the country, and FAU transfer Johnell Davis helped take the Owls to the Final Four two years ago.
Yet it’s already pretty clear that top-20 freshman Boogie Fland is ready to step into that role. The 6-2 dynamo drew comparisons to Rob Dillingham in high school because of his shot creation, and the thought is that he could play a similar role off the bench for Calipari. Instead, Fland looks like the offensive focal point and is separating himself from a defensive-liability label.
“[I was] just being myself, having that competitive spirit,” Fland said after the game. “Just going in there with that mindset of ‘I’m going to go out here and be competitive, be a leader and try to get others involved.’”
Fland may not give Arkansas the same 22-point, five-assist, six-steal performance every single night, but doing it against the preseason top-ranked team in Kansas does make a pretty big statement. He may be appointment television this season.
Tennessee wants Chaz Lanier to be Dalton Knecht 2.0 — will it work?
Dalton Knecht was a superstar last year, and much of the offseason fodder surrounding Tennessee was trying to figure out how the Vols planned to replace him. Landing transfer Chaz Lanier, who was one of the top players available after averaging 19.7 ppg at North Florida, was a sign that they believed he was their guy.
The exhibition loss to Indiana further showcased that belief. Lanier led the team with 16 shot attempts (no one else had more than 10), including 12 attempts from 3-point range. His usage was sky-high in the 20 minutes he was on the court.
However, 20 minutes is far fewer than Rick Barnes would like to play him. Lanier only made three of those 16 shot attempts, but Barnes didn’t care. Lanier didn’t start the game or finish it because of what he lacked everywhere else.
“You use these games to sometimes let guys understand, ‘Hey, we have talked about it, we have done it, you have got to play hard,” Barnes told reporters after the game. “At the end of the game, we went with our team that we thought gave us the best chance defensively.”
While Tennessee went with a more offensively-focused direction with its transfer class this offseason, the identity of the team isn’t changing.
We also learned that the Vols still need Lanier. Remember how he wasn’t part the closing lineup? Well, Tennessee didn’t make a shot in the final 3:50 and lost by four, even though the Vols led by four when Lanier left the game for good.
Exhibition season is the time for Barnes to set the tone for his team and teach lessons, but when the games count, Tennessee will rely heavily on Lanier.
Brad Underwood was right about Illinois’ defense
There seemed to be two different tones coming out of Illinois at Big Ten Media Day earlier this month. Returning guard Ty Rodgers said this Illini team is “by far the most talented” he has been a part of during his three years in Champaign, while head coach Brad Underwood said his team would “give up 100 to a 7th grade team” because of how bad they were defensively.
Underwood’s statement more closely resembles reality.
Illinois gave up 91 points to Ole Miss in a 17-point loss on Sunday as the Rebels shot 48.6 percent from the field and 52.2 percent from 3-point range. The Illini also didn’t force turnovers at a high clip while coughing it up 22 times offensively.
After the game, Underwood didn’t seem to mind the result, telling reporters it was “just what this team needed.”
This Illinois team is immensely talented and we saw that in flashes throughout this contest despite the score. That said, there was a lot of sloppy play. Rotations and closeouts were slow or non-existent defensively, and there was a lot of “ball watching” on the offensive end, which resulted in Illinois taking several contested shots.
It seems that Underwood believes this is the wake-up call that can get his team to pay more attention to the details. The Illini have the talent to win the Big Ten, yet their play in those areas was more indicative of a team in the eventual NCAA Tournament bubble conversation.
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