The sooner Maliq Brown gets back on the practice court, the better for Duke.

But until that happens, the Blue Devils will forge ahead with a center rotation that came a long way in the past week.

Freshman Patrick Ngongba II played 18 and 14 minutes against Miami and Boston College last week, respectively, and transfer Mason Gillis slid into some reserve minutes at the 5-position — a means of keeping Cooper Flagg playing the 4-spot, at which he’s become the frontrunner for national player of the year.

Of course, that’s all behind the continued development of Khaman Maluach; in the last three games, he has a combined 39 points on 16-for-20 shooting, 29 rebounds and three blocks.

“Pat stepping up has been really important for us with what he’s done,” coach Jon Scheyer said. “And it’s given us a chance to look at some different lineups. We played Gillis at the 5 and that was something we really hadn’t done before.

“The emergence of Pat, the addition of Mason in a different role, I think those two things are really good for us.”

Ngongba scored four points in each of last week’s games against Miami and BC. He had five rebounds against the Hurricanes and four against BC.

Scheyer said on Monday morning that Brown — who suffered a sprained knee against Notre Dame on Jan. 11 — had not returned to the practice court yet, but that the goal was for that to happen this week. The Blue Devils are in the middle of their longest-remaining scheduled break, without a game until Saturday’s trip to Wake Forest.

Until Brown returns to the practice court, it’s difficult to put a timeframe on which game will mark his return.