2025 NCAA Tournament 2nd-Round Preview:
#1 Duke vs. #9 Baylor (Sunday, 2:40 p.m., CBS)
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
In its first-round NCAA Tournament matchup, #1 seed Duke knew that #16 seed Mount St. Mary’s would be no match for a Blue Devils squad that boasts the most NBA-caliber talent of any college hoops team this season.
The road to the Final Four gets much tougher now.
Duke (32-3) again will be a heavy (12-point) favorite in its second-round matchup against Baylor (20-14) in Raleigh on Sunday (2:40 p.m., CBS), but this time the opponent will have a national championship head coach and some NBA-caliber players of its own.
Baylor coach Scott Drew, now in his 22nd season with the Bears, led the program to its only NCAA title just four years ago, and — like third-year Duke leader Jon Scheyer — he has made his program a popular destination for both high school superstars and accomplished transfers.
Both teams’ starting lineups include multiple prep All-Americans with various levels of NBA potential. At Duke, the now-familiar freshmen are Cooper Flagg, Khaman Maluach and Kon Knueppel. At Baylor, it’s point guard Robert Wright III and wing guard VJ Edgecombe.
Flagg (ACC Player of the Year, possible National Player of the Year), Edgecombe (Big 12 Freshman of the Year; second-team All-Big 12) and Maluach (ACC All-Rookie team) are all expected to be NBA lottery picks. Knueppel (second-team All-ACC) has a chance at that lofty status, too.
While this is not one of Drew’s better Baylor teams — it lacks size and depth, and it can be porous defensively — the Bears still qualify as dangerous because of their prolific offense. Their regular-season victims included NCAA Tournament squads such as St. John’s, Arkansas and Kansas.
Duke fans already are very familiar with Baylor’s best player and one of the Bears’ key reserves.
Fifth-year forward Norchad Omier, formerly a two-time All-ACC player for the Miami Hurricanes, remains a high-IQ performer and double-double machine (16 ppg, 11 rpg) as an undersized post player. He was Baylor’s lone representative on the All-Big 12 first team this season.
Fifth-year guard Jeremy Roach, formerly a four-year starter at Duke, has been coming off the bench for the Bears lately, after starting 17 times earlier this season. His playing time (29 mpg), scoring average (10 ppg) and shooting accuracy (38 percent on field goals; 34 percent on 3-pointers) are all down significantly from last season, when he was a third-team All-ACC performer for the Blue Devils.
Offensively, Baylor prefers a slow tempo (the classic approach of most underdogs), and the Bears can be hard to defend because six of their seven rotation players are capable 3-point shooters. It’s hard to imagine them upsetting Duke without an avalanche of threes.
Defensively, the Bears’ lack of size — their only rotation player over 6-foot-7, Josh Ojianwuna (6-10), hasn’t played since Feb. 8 — likely will be a major problem, perhaps an insurmountable one, against a Duke squad that is the tallest and longest of the 364 major college basketball teams this season.
BPI/KenPom/KPI/NET Team Rankings (of 364 teams):
Baylor — 18/29/52/30
Duke — 1/1/5/1
Offensive/Defensive Efficiency Rankings (of 364 teams):
Baylor — 16/57
Duke — 3/4
2024-25 Baylor Bears
(20-14, 10-10 Big 12/7th; through March 22)
STARTERS
PG Robert Wright III, Fr. (6-1/185) — HS signee (top-30 in Class of 2024)
29 mpg, 12 ppg, 2 rpg, 42% FG, 79% FT, 36% threes, 145/69 ATO, 2 blocks, 35 steals
G Jayden Nunn*, Sr. (6-4/190) — 2023 VCU transfer (2-year starter)
28 mpg, 9 ppg, 3 rpg, 41% FG, 63% FT, 41% threes, 53/25 ATO, 6 blocks, 32 steals
G VJ Edgecombe, Fr. (6-5/180) — HS signee (top-10 in Class of 2024)
33 mpg, 15 ppg, 6 rpg, 43% FG, 79% FT, 35% threes, 105/64 ATO, 20 blocks, 67 steals
G Jalen Celestine, Gr. (6-7/185) — 2024 Cal transfer (2-year starter)
25 mpg, 7 ppg, 4 rpg, 38% FG, 79% FT, 36% threes, 23/20 ATO, 7 blocks, 18 steals
F Norchad Omier, Ss. (6-7/230) — 2024 Miami transfer (2x All-ACC)
32 mpg, 16 ppg, 11 rpg, 56% FG, 75% FT, 29% threes, 54/83 ATO, 33 blocks, 41 steals
KEY RESERVES
G Jeremy Roach, Ss. (6-2/180) — 2024 Duke transfer (4-year starter)
29 mpg, 10 ppg, 2 rpg, 38% FG, 69% FT, 34% threes, 74/39 ATO, 4 blocks, 25 steals
G Langston Love, r-Jr. (6-5/210) — HS signee (top-50 in Class of 2021)
26 mpg, 9 ppg, 3 rpg, 39% FG, 89% FT, 32% threes, 22/22 ATO, 3 blocks, 14 steals
F Josh Ojianwuna, Jr. (6-10/230) — HS signee (INJURED)
25 mpg, 7 ppg, 6 rpg, 77% FG, 65% FT, 0 threes, 13/19 ATO, 18 blocks, 21 steals
*—2023-24 starter (started at least 50% of Bears’ games last season)
2024-25 Duke Blue Devils
(32-3, 19-1 ACC/1st; through March 22)
STARTERS
PG Sion James, Gr. (6-6/220) — 2024 Tulane transfer (4-year starter)
25 mpg, 9 ppg, 4 rpg, 52% FG, 83% FT, 41% threes, 108/41 ATO, 10 blocks, 31 steals
G Tyrese Proctor*, Jr. (6-6/183) — HS signee (top-30 in Class of 2022)
29 mpg, 12 ppg, 3 rpg, 44% FG, 69% FT, 40% threes, 77/35 ATO, 4 blocks, 29 steals
G/F Kon Knueppel, Fr. (6-7/217) — HS signee (top-25 in Class of 2024)
30 mpg, 14 ppg, 4 rpg, 47% FG, 91% FT, 39% threes, 94/47 ATO, 6 blocks, 36 steals
G/F Cooper Flagg, Fr. (6-9/205) — HS signee (#1 in Class of 2024)
30 mpg, 19 ppg, 8 rpg, 49% FG, 83% FT, 37% threes, 135/70 ATO, 42 blocks, 49 steals
C Khaman Maluach, Fr. (7-2/250) — HS signee (top-10 in Class of 2024)
21 mpg, 8 ppg, 7 rpg, 70% FG, 75% FT, 25% threes, 17/26 ATO, 42 blocks, 6 steals
KEY RESERVES
F Mason Gillis, Gr. (6-6/225) — 2024 Purdue transfer (Big Ten 6th Man of Year)
15 mpg, 4 ppg, 3 rpg, 41% FG, 83% FT, 33% threes, 28/14 ATO, 0 blocks, 16 steals
G/F Isaiah Evans, Fr. (6-6/175) — HS signee (top-25 in Class of 2024)
15 mpg, 8 ppg, 1 rpg, 44% FG, 81% FT, 42% threes, 18/16 ATO, 3 blocks, 6 steals
G Caleb Foster, So. (6-5/202) — HS signee (top-25 in Class of 2023)
14 mpg, 5 ppg, 2 rpg, 41% FG, 67% FT, 34% threes, 47/31 ATO, 3 blocks, 23 steals
C Patrick Ngongba II, Fr. (6-11/250) — HS signee (top-30 in Class of 2024)
11 mpg, 4 ppg, 3 rpg, 71% FG, 68% FT, 0 threes, 17/6 ATO, 14 blocks, 10 steals
F Maliq Brown, Jr. (6-9/222) — 2024 Syracuse transfer (INJURED)
17 mpg, 3 ppg, 4 rpg, 64% FG, 38% FT, 33% threes, 36/22 ATO, 9 blocks, 30 steals
Departures from 2023-24: PG Jaylen Blakes (Jr./transfer/Stanford), C Kyle Filipowski* (So./early NBA entry/Utah Jazz), WG Jared McCain* (Fr./early NBA entry/Philadelphia 76ers), BF Mark Mitchell* (So./transfer/Missouri), BF TJ Power (Fr./transfer/Virginia), C Christian Reeves (r-Fr./transfer/Clemson), WG Jeremy Roach* (Sr./transfer/Baylor), WG Jaden Schutt (r-Fr./transfer/Virginia Tech), BF Sean Stewart (Fr./transfer/Ohio State), C Ryan Young (Sr.)
*—2023-24 starter (started at least 50% of Duke’s games last season)
