Duke Basketball Star Rouses Haters With One Bold Prediction

When Kyle Filipowski first reported interest from the Duke basketball recruiting team in 2020, he ranked below No. 130 on the 247Sports 2022 Composite. Some folks on Blue Devil message boards speculated that he was making more of it than what it was, as in, maybe he just got a form letter from the staff or something.

Nope. The versatile, athletic 7-footer eventually skyrocketed to No. 4 overall in the class. In July 2021, a month after receiving an offer from the Blue Devils, he became the first recruit to announce a commitment to then-Duke basketball head coach-in-waiting Jon Scheyer.

And in Scheyer's first year on the job last season, Filipowski became ACC Rookie of the Year.

In other words, Filipowski tends to both talk a big game — often on social media in a fun-loving yet undoubtedly hyper-competitive manner — and put his money where his mouth is.

So it should come as no surprise that the 19-year-old New York native out of Wilbraham & Monson Academy (Mass.) took to the comments of an intentionally divisive NCAA March Madness post on Instagram this week, sparking excitement from Duke basketball faithful and snickering from the large anti-Blue Devil contingent.

That post, featuring side-by-side pictures of Filipowski and Kansas senior big man Hunter Dickinson, asks which team, Duke or Kansas, should be No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25. Filipowski's response, which drew more likes and sub-comments than any other under the post, was simple: "Don't matter cuz we getting the 🏆."

Chances are, at least judging by the projected rankings on most national sites, Kansas will be in the top spot when the season gets underway in early November, with the Duke basketball bluebloods at No. 2, maybe No. 3.

Filipowski, still working his way back to full strength following offseason hip surgery but with the expectation that he'll be there soon enough, is now affectionately known in Durham as "Two-Hip Flip." Scheyer sounds comfortable with that nickname for what could be his first All-American treasure as a head coach.

"They don't call him 'Two-Hip Flip' for nothing," Scheyer joked with the media during his press conference in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday. "He can bend. He can move his feet. He can jump. He's more explosive.

"And it's really remarkable when you think about the season that he had despite not being able to move in the way that he's capable of...He's told me that he feels freer, more explosive...He's a new-and-improved Flip."

No doubt Kyle Filipowski agrees.

"This past week was the first time I dunked again," he recently told The Field of 68's Jeff Goodman, adding that he anticipates being ready for 5-on-5 action with his teammates by early September. "I'm so motivated, just with seeing my progress...I feel like I've gotten a fresh start...

"I know I can do so much more than I did last year, and it's going to shock a lot of people."

With seven more returning scholarship players from the 2022-23 ACC champs on tap, including three more returning starters in Jeremy Roach, Tyrese Proctor, and Mark Mitchell, plus four five-star rookies in town, Filipowski sees the Blue Devils building on the chemistry they forged last season while embracing an oh-so-hungry mentality.

"We're going to be like a flamethrower, just going at it," he noted to Goodman. "And we know that there's going to be people coming after us every game."

Yes, the ever-popular Duke basketball brand and Kyle Filipowski's public displays of extreme confidence ensure that'll be the case.

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