Duke Basketball Forward Among Nation's Top 10 Defenders

On the other end, though, the transfer from Culpepper, Va., led the Final Four-bound Blue Devils, including eventual No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick and defensive menace Cooper Flagg, with his 3.2 steals per 40 minutes on the floor.

Even so, in part due to a dislocated left shoulder that sidelined him for four of Duke's last five regular season outings, Brown fell short of a repeat appearance on the ACC All-Defensive Team.

Now, as a Duke basketball senior for the preseason favorite to win the ACC again, the long-limbed 21-year-old is set to enter the season as a top contender for ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

And there's also no doubt his name will at least begin the campaign among those in the conversation for the national award. As for where Maliq Brown stands on such a list, in the following post on social media last week, NCAA March Madness' Andy Katz placed him at No. 7 among all lockdown defenders in the country:

Katz ranked Brown above Ohio State's Bruce Thornton at No. 8, Arizona's Jaden Bradley at No. 9, and Illinois' Kylan Boswell at No. 10. He sits below Cincinnati's Sencire Harris at No. 6, San Diego State's Magoon Gwath at No. 5, Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg at No 4, Houston's Joseph Tugler at No. 3, Iowa State's Tamin Lipsey at No. 2, and Texas Tech's Luke Bamgboye at the top.

For Maliq Brown, his senior year presents a chance to build on the strides he made last go-round, even if not so obvious on the stat sheet, and to become a go-to leader for Jon Scheyer's fourth batch of Blue Devils.

Brown's Thoughts

"Since I've been here, I feel like I've become a better player and a better person off the court," Brown explained during his time at ACC Tipoff earlier this month, "just from Coach Scheyer and the rest of the coaching staff, just the habits they've taught me since I've been here from day one. I've got a lot more to learn too, so I'm glad I've been here."

Brown and his teammates square off against Duke basketball legend Johnny Dawkins' UCF squad in Cameron Indoor Stadium at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday (ACCNX), the first of two exhibition contests for the preseason No. 6-ranked Blue Devils.