Duke lands commitment from Syracuse basketball transfer Maliq Brown

Duke has just landed a commitment for its 2024-25 roster, as Syracuse transfer Maliq Brown has pledged to become a Blue Devil.

Home runs win all the headlines when it comes to the transfer portal, but there’s no problem with hitting a double like Duke did with Brown, a terrific defender with high upside and two years still to play.

Brown is coming off a sophomore season where he averaged 9.5 points and 7.2 rebounds, also nabbing 2.2 steals per game. He emerged as a starter in conference play and was third on the team playing just over 33 minutes a night in 20 ACC games.

With his durability, those steal numbers, plus his disruptive defensive presence all the way around, Brown made ACC First-Team All-Defense, finishing third in total votes behind a pair of Virginia guys. Both will be gone this season, and if Brown plays a large role with Duke in 2024-25, he very well could be a favorite to win the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Another plus with Maliq Brown is that the analytics absolutely love him. In Bart Torvik’s PORPAGATU! (PRPG!) metric measuring player efficiency and usage rate, Brown came in as a top-20 player in the ACC this season. He scored the No. 6 defensive box plus-minus despite playing for a mediocre team and was the leader in steal rate.

Syracuse was also much better as a team with him on the floor. Maliq Brown posted the highest box plus-minus numbers for the 2024 team and it wasn’t even close. And, he hardly missed a shot, converting 73.6% of his 2-point attempts and 36.8% on his handful of 3-point tries.

Looking at Duke defensively, they now have a gnarly duo of front-court defenders in Brown and incoming freshman Cooper Flagg, a great athlete whose best skills may be on the defensive end of the court.

Now, Duke has already seen their own fair share of transfers heading out of the program. Mark Mitchell left the hole that Brown will help fill, most losses have come on the perimeter so far. Longtime starring guard Jeremy Roach is in, as are Jaylen Blakes and Jadan Schutt. Meanwhile, Jared McCain is gone to the NBA Draft, and so is Kyle Filipowski.

Of course, Duke has other portal targets to chase and an elite freshman class coming in, with Flagg, so they’ll surely be loaded up come November.