2 weeks Ago By Jack Savage
It is impossible to miss Khaman Maluach.The massive 7ft 2in South Sudanese is one of Duke’s many stars looking to deliver a national championship.Maluach is one of the Blue Devils’ biggest starsGettyMaluach is fresh off a blistering ACC tournament title (along with a regular season title), after chipping in for eight points, 10 rebounds and two blocks over Louisville in the championship game.
Duke’s leading star Cooper Flagg missed that game but the Blue Devils didn’t seem to miss him all that much as Maluach and others picked up the slack.Fast forward to April, Duke are now in the Final Four and are heavy favorites to win the national title.If they want to win their sixth title in program history, they will need their 7-2 freshman to come up as big as he is tall.
So far so good, as Maluach has been up to the task all year.A lot of that can be traced back to his experience when he competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics, for his home country of South Sudan.Maluach was only 17 at the time, the youngest basketball player competing in the games.
Maluach and South Sudan stunned LeBron James and gave Team USA quite the scare, pushing them to the absolute brink in an exhibition match in July before pool play began.James scored the game-wining bucket to give USA the 101-100 victory, but South Sudan put themselves on the map with their performance.Maluach has taken the college basketball world by stormGettyMaluach and the Blue Devils will head into the tournament as one of the heavy favorites to win it allGettyIt was an invaluable experience for the then 17-year-old and his team.
South Sudan then won its first-ever Olympic game in their debut, upsetting Puerto Rico for a 90-79 victory.A remarkable feat considering South Sudan only created its basketball federation 14 years ago in 2011.Maluach will look to take everything he has learned and experienced in the last year into the NCAA Tournament.
His head coach, Jon Scheyer, has the utmost confidence in his young freshman and believes he will be up to the task.“Khaman, he’s as good as I’ve seen as a freshman of playing physical and knowing how to use his body,” Scheyer said.“Usually, that takes the longest for freshmen big guys.
He naturally, he was coming in, in the summer and just hitting guys, ‘cause he likes contact. So, it starts there.March Madness Top StoriesRanking the greatest players in NCAA men’s March Madness history – from Michael Jordan to Magic Johnson‘This sister is special’ – Stephen A.
Smith identifies rising star who can challenge Caitlin Clark’s WNBA dominanceMarch Madness legends who are still balling in NBA today – from Steph Curry to Ja MorantNCAA March Madness is bigger and better than the College Football Playoff – the springtime phenomenon is bigger than everBiggest March Madness upsets in history of NCAA Tournament – top seeds humiliated as small schools enjoy their moment “Obviously, he has to learn how to do that and go straight up and go vertical.“He’s a student of the game, so he’s been able to grow as the season’s gone along with his defense, with his switching, with blitzing ball screens.“I don’t think his versatility gets talked about enough on that end.
It’s because of him being so smart and such a great worker.” All eyes will be on Flagg, but it may just be Maluach who proves to be the March Madness X-factor..
