Duke's Final Four meltdown puts one projected lottery pick on thin ice

The Duke Blue Devils are gone fishin' after an embarrassing last-minute meltdown against the Houston Cougars in the Final Four.

Few teams have collapsed so catastrophically in such a huge moment. March Madness is all about improbable comebacks and stunning upsets, but Duke was in the driver's seat.

Kon Knueppel drilled a free throw with 1:14 left to give Duke a six-point lead. The Blue Devils' win probability sat at 92.5 percent on ESPN. A few bad inbound passes later, with a complete absence of rebounds sprinkled in, the Blue Devils were on the wrong end of a 70-67 scoreboard. Houston will face Florida in the national championship game.

There is blame to go around, from Scheyer's play calls to Cooper Flagg's lack of heroics. Perhaps the most egregious culprit, however, was Flagg's freshman teammate and fellow top recruit, Khaman Maluach.

A 7-foot-2, 250-pound center with nuclear athleticism, Maluach was far and away the biggest player on the floor Saturday night. Houston's tallest starters are J'Wan Roberts and Joseph Tugler, who are both 6-foot-7. This was a prime opportunity for Maluach to leverage his athletic gifts and give Duke a key advantage against Houston's scrappy, undersized lineup. Instead, Maluach laid a goose egg — literally.

He posted zero rebounds in 21 minutes, scoring six points and finishing as a minus-20 in a three-point loss.

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Khaman Maluach raises NBA Draft questions with horrid Final Four performance for Duke

Maluach, the No. 5-ranked prospect at FanSided, has been soaring up draft boards all season. Flagg tends to command the spotlight for Duke, but Maluach has been highly impressive at 18 years old — even in a much more streamlined role.

You won't find a more efficient interior finisher. What Maluach lacks in polished skill, he makes up for with natural coordination and sheer athletic prowess. He glides through space nimbly, contorting for touch finishes just as easily as he flushes emphatic jams.

That said, Maluach is not a perfect prospect, and his worst attributes were on full display against a gritty Houston team on Saturday. Rebounding is a top area of concern with Maluach, who has never been great on the boards despite his imposing physical presence. He averaged 6.6 rebounds in 21.2 minutes per game this season (18.6 per 100 possessions), which is a solid number on the surface.

He was top-10 in offensive rebound rate (16.5 percent) this season, per KenPom, and Maluach comes by plenty of easy boards by virtue of his stature. His defensive rebounding rate was far less impressive, however, and that was a primary wart in Duke's Final Four performance. Houston, despite being undersized, gets after rebounds aggressively. JoJo Tugler is 6-foot-7, but he's a springboard athlete with a 7-foot-6 wingspan and he's great on the glass. He finished with eight rebounds, five offensive, in 25 minutes. Roberts collected 12 boards, including four offensive.

Houston's physicality neutralized Maluach completely. That will be a real point of emphasis for skeptics at the next level. I'm reasonably confident that Maluach can improve in that department with NBA strength development and more time to age into his frame — again, we're talking about an 18-year-old with relatively limited basketball experience — but it's nonetheless a glaring weak point. NBA teams will not take his disappearing act on Saturday lightly.

This shouldn't tank Maluach's stock too far, but it's a glaring mark against him.