Not since Zion Williamson enrolled at Duke for the 2018-19 season has a freshman captivated college basketball like Cooper Flagg is expected to in the 2024-25 season. Ranked the No. 1 overall prospect in the Class of 2024 by 247Sports, Flagg is set to be a must-see attraction when the Blue Devils open the season against Maine on Nov. 4.
The 6-foot-9 forward doesn’t turn 18 until Dec. 21 but is nonetheless regarded as the likely No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. So advanced is Flagg’s game that he was the lone college player picked for the 2024 USA Basketball Men’s Select Team, which trained against the gold-medal winning men’s national team in the preamble to the 2024 Olympics.
Duke is ranked No. 7 in the AP preseason poll and predicted to win the ACC, largely because of Flagg. He came in No. 3 in CBS Sports’ preseason ranking of college basketball’s Top 100 and 1 players. Fifth-year guards Mark Sears of Alabama and RJ Davis of North Carolina are the only players ahead of him on the list.
Meeting the hype and expectations will be a tall task for a young player. But Flagg is believed to be the rare talent capable of meeting the overused “generational” label. We’ll be tracking his progress here all season long.
Early flash from Flagg in preseason blowout
Flagg had a nice and-one finish in the first minute of Duke’s 103-47 exhibition beatdown of Arizona State. He added a couple of free throws shortly thereafter while accounting for four of his team’s six points. From there, it was mostly a quiet day for Flagg as the Blue Devils steamrolled the Sun Devils. He finished with nine points, four rebounds and three assists on 3 of 9 shooting in 21 minutes. Flagg logged just five minutes in the second half as the Blue Devils played their reserves ample minutes.
“I thought he just impacted the game in a lot of ways,” Scheyer said. “Of course, his numbers aren’t going to wow you or anything. I didn’t…
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