It wasn’t a surprise that a Duke freshman was named the Most Valuable Player of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Saturday night.

What may have been surprising is that he wasn’t named Cooper Flagg.

Kon Knueppel, take a bow.

With Flagg out for most of the ACC Tournament with a sprained ankle, the 6-foot-7 Knueppel showed that he’s more than capable of carrying the load for the top-ranked Blue Devils, who beat No. 13 Louisville 73-62 on Saturday night in Charlotte, North Carolina to win their second championship in three seasons under coach Jon Scheyer.

The consistent Knueppel averaged 21 points on 48.7% shooting to go along with 6.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists over three games to earn tournament MVP honors, a step up from his season averages of 14.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.

So while the multi-talented Flagg has grabbed most of the national headlines, Duke’s opponents in the upcoming NCAA Tournament had best not sleep on the fellow true freshman from the Milwaukee area.

“He’s so solid and made so many winning plays,” Scheyer said.

Knueppel had 28 points in Duke’s quarterfinal win over Goergia Tech, a game where Flagg left in the first half after stepping on an opponent’s foot.

He never let up from there.

“I didn’t really feel like I tried to turn it up a notch,” Knueppel said of Flagg’s absence. “I was trying to make the right play. With Cooper being out I knew some of the burden, especially the minutes and having to play a lot more. So I was just trying to be sharp. Nothing spectacular. Nothing crazy.”

Flagg will be back for the NCAA Tournament.

But if nothing else, the ACC Tournament proved the Blue Devils are more than just the Cooper Flagg show.

Red Storm’s wait over: RJ Luis Jr. scored all but two of his 29 points after halftime and No. 6 St. John’s made 14 straight shots in the second half to beat Creighton 82-66 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden for its first Big East Tournament title in 25 years.

Zuby Ejiofor pitched in with 20 points for the top-seeded Red Storm (30-4). They earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, making 72-year-old Hall of Famer Rick Pitino the first coach to take six schools to the Big Dance. Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 15 for second-seeded Creighton (24-10).

VCU earns bid: Max Shulga scored 18 points and Joe Bamisile sealed the win with two free throws with a half-second left as Virginia Commonwealth (28-6) held off George Mason 66-63 to win the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament championship on Sunday in Washington.

Yale wins Ivy tourney: John Poulakidas knocked down five 3-pointers in the second half as regular-season champion Yale (22-7) added the Ivy League Tournament championship with a 90-84 win over Cornell on Sunday in Providence, Rhode Island to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in the last five seasons.