Meet Khaman Maluach.
The massive 7’2″ South Sudanese native is helping lead the Duke Blue Devils into the NCAA tournament as one of the best teams in the country.
The freshman is coming fresh off an ACC tournament title (along with a regular season title), after chipping in for 8 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks over Louisville in the championship game.
Duke was without its star player, Cooper Flagg, but didn’t seem to miss him all that much as Maluach and others picked up the slack.
The Blue Devils will now enter the NCAA Tournament as a one seed and will be one of the 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.
Never wavering in the big moments.
A lot of that can be traced back to his experience when he competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics, for his home country, South Sudan.
Maluach was only 17 at the time, the youngest basketball player competing in the games.
Maluach and South Sudan gave LeBron James and 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, but South Sudan put themselves on the map with their performance.
It 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.
Maluach will look to take everything he has learned and experienced in the last year as he heads 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 last month.
“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.
“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 when Flagg returns for Duke, but it may just be Maluach who proves to be the March Madness X-factor.
