The presumed no.1 overall pick will grab National attention all year, but what kind of star will Cooper Flagg be? And how good can Duke be with him?
by Jordan Beckley
Carmelo. Trae Young. Zion Williamson. Cooper Flagg.
If you don’t know the last name you will soon trust me.
Every once in a while College Basketball gets a player who has enough cache to capture complete attention on a National Level.
Carmelo’s magical National Title run in 2003, Trae Young forcing ESPN to adopt a stat counter just for him on top of their scoreboard permanently, and Zion Williamson bursting through his Nike’s for highlight dunks and blocks all have done it before.
Well, Cooper Flagg hasn’t even played a game for Duke and I already know that he will define the 2024-25 College Basketball season.
From a rare standout recruit to come from Maine, to a Team USA U-17 Gold Medalist, to reclassifying and earning the no.1 overall recruit ranking at age 17, to scrimmaging against Kevin Durant and Lebron James before the Paris Olympics… the Cooper Flagg story is just beginning.
So, all aboard the Hype Train and let’s try and figure out how this year’s College Basketball season will go.
What Kind of Star will Flagg be?
As soon as Cooper Flagg reclassified to skip his senior season and play College a year early he was presumed to be the future no. 1 pick of the 2025 NBA Draft.
As we try and figure out what the tanking phrase will be for him (Fail for Flagg?… meh), we also need to figure out what kind of player he really is at a higher level.
Flagg is listed on Duke’s official roster as 6’9″ 205lbs and is listed as a Guard/Forward. Flagg sprouted early and being like the only guy on his High School team in Newport, Maine had to do everything. He started and starred his Freshman year at Nokomis Regional High School averaging 20pts, 10rbs, 6 assists a game and nearly 4 blocks and 4 steals EACH! So, yeah Flagg could do everything and again this was his Freshman year at age 14.
Flagg’s performance drew eyeballs. Nokomis won the Maine Class A State Title and Flagg became the first player in history to win Maine Gatorade Player of the Year as a Freshman. Flagg was able to transfer to one of the best Basketball prep schools in Montverde Academy.
At Montverde, he developed his game with some of the best recruits in the country and played most of the rest of them with their elevated schedule. In between the seasons of playing within an offense for Montverde, Flagg dominated as the no.1 option on his local AAU team Maine United tearing up the EYBL circuit. Flagg even donned the red, white, & blue winning a Gold Medal at U-17 FIBA World Cup and putting up silly stat lines like the 10 points, 17 rebounds, 8 steals and 4 blocks he had in the Gold Medal game.
With a player as versatile as Cooper Flagg and who has filled so many roles, have we seen a no.1 pick like Flagg before?
Not every presumed no.1 overall pick is the same.
It used to be the most coveted pick was owned by the traditional big man. Think Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Yao Ming, Dwight Howard and less successfully by Michael Olowokandi, Kwame Brown and Andrew Bogut. Elite bigs were safe, rare to find, impossible to teach their best skill (size) and the game at the time was built around them. The Center over everything mindset has shifted over time and the touchstone moment was probably Greg Oden over Kevin Durant.
Occasionally, you can have the super athlete guard like Derrick Rose, John Wall, Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Edwards steal the no. 1 overall pick. Flagg is not the top overall recruit because his highlights resemble Russell Westbrook. Instead there is a third category that Flagg better characterizes.
What about the NBA-sized forwards who play like guards? The Lebron influence on the NBA can partially be measured by the rising interest in this prototype. We’ve seen players like Ben Simmons, Zion Williamson, Cade Cunningham and Paolo Banchero fall into this category recently.
This is likely where our little minds want to place Cooper Flagg. We want to put him in this box of a forward with ball skills, but I think he is more complicated than that. While Flagg has shown the promise of plenty on-ball ability, you might be disappointed if you expect him to be LeBron James or Luka Doncic.
One name I didn’t mention at the top who defined their College Basketball season is Anthony Davis. What if Cooper Flagg is Anthony Davis?
Yes, the comp is a stretch, but realistically Flagg as an immensely impactful power forward who plays air traffic control around the rim would be perfect for this Duke team and that is what Flagg has shown at the lower levels.
I highly recommend watching the video above of J. Kyle Mann of The Ringer (after you finish my article of course) as he is more of a scout than I am and he goes in depth on why Cooper Flagg’s rim protection is special and is a rarity at his size. The defense is actually the defining characteristic of Flagg at this moment and the offense is work in progress but is still one tantalizing ball of clay.
Someday, Cooper Flagg might be on his second contract in the NBA he might resemble the ballhandling prowess of Luka or at a lower level a Paul George, but for this article I’m interested in what he will be at Duke not what he plays like as a finished product.
Right now Cooper Flagg is a menace in the open court using his long limbs, speed and quick activation jump to glide past unsettled defenders for easy dunks and lay-ins. In halfcourt, his confidence looks to just be rising more each day or at least the publicly released Duke practice footage makes me think so. Flagg will be a confident shooter with his feet set next year and it will be fascinating if he can be one off the dribble too.
I envision Flagg the distributor similarly to Domantas Sabonis. I think Scheyer will use him in a ton of Floppy ball screens and dribble hand offs and let Flagg’s big basketball brain make decisions. Flagg is already a more capable driver than Sabonis, but the connective passing and unselfishness that Sabonis has out of his dribble hand offs are more what I see as a shared skill.
But again, the value in Cooper Flagg isn’t the fact that he’s a 6’9″ forward with nearly NBA level polish as a ball-handler, an assassin in open court, & a mismatch for stiff college forwards, but that he is all that and could be the best defender in the country.
Duke has a 5-Star, 7’2″ center in Khaman Maluach who might end up being a lottery pick in the 2025 NBA draft too. Remember when the 2015 Kentucky team had SEC Defensive Player of the Year Willie Cauley Stein at center and then had Karl Anthony-Towns at the 4 who quietly blocked more shots than him? Opponents shot 39% from 2pt that season against Kentucky. How close will the Maluach-Flagg frontline be to that 38-1 Kentucky team?
I’m not sure we have seen a prospect like Cooper Flagg. Who is the last no.1 recruit that their calling card was their defense and they weren’t a 7-foot+ center?
There are different molds of players who fit different aspects of his game, but no 1-to-1 comparison for Flagg. Which that blend of many great players is true of many of the all-time players. Overall, we don’t know what kind of star Flagg is going to be and that’s why he will capture so much of our interest.
Banner number 6?
The funny thing about how certain players define seasons of College Basketball is that they often don’t win the National Title.
Instead you fail to recall certain parts of the season being in the same year. In 2019, Zion Williamson was appointment viewing. He had buttery smooth dunks with copious air time, “wait how’d he get that?” blocks, and had two other top 5 recruits in RJ Barrett & Cam Reddish on his team that made it feel like you were watching an All-time classic team in the moment.
That “All-time team” finished 3rd in the ACC that year and lost in the Elite Eight to Cassius Winston & Michigan State. The team that won the ACC? Rival North Carolina with Cam Johnson & Coby White but the Tar Heels also shared it with eventual National Champion Virginia.
Yes, the same season of Virginia’s miracle run to avenge their prior season loss to no.16 seed UMBC was the Zion Williamson year. Doesn’t it feel like two separate things? It seems like they are independent memories even if one of Zion’s biggest highlights was a block he had against Virginia’s DeAndre Hunter.
Cooper Flagg doesn’t want his season to end like Zion’s or Trae Young’s (that was the year Villanova won their 2nd Title in 3 years by obliterating Michigan). He want’s it to end like Carmelo’s or Anthony Davis’s with Duke returning to the summit of the sport.
So, how do we get there? How do we get to Jon Scheyer lifting the NCAA’s weird wooden National Title Trophy and handing if over to Flagg? Well, the foundation will be laid by Flagg’s teammates.
You can’t win a National Title without great guards. Luckily enough for the Blue Devils that really isn’t an issue for them. Scheyer returns two highly touted guards now with real college experience in Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster. He gets to pair those two with two more 5-star guards in Kon Knueppel and Isaiah Evans.
Proctor was once a 5-star recruit who reclassified and joined the 2022-23 Duke team a year early. The 17 year old had an understandably inefficient season in the shadows of Jeremy Roach. Both Roach and Proctor returned and it was supposed to be a big boon for Duke to keep both however Proctor didn’t make the leap like a second year player normally does. His efficiency improved, but his raw numbers stagnated. Could Proctor finally make the leap in year 3 as he takes the reins with Roach gone?
Caleb Foster is a 4-Star recruit who was the 6th-man last year and was comfortable knocking down shots in big moments. It will be interesting to see how he’s improved in the offseason, but I imagine he will continue to be a bench player and likely be used as a shooter in a supporting role this season.
Duke’s ceiling can be reached if either of their new stud freshmen prove to be 1st round picks. Bleacher Report’s 1st round mock draft had four Duke players in it: Flagg, Maluach, and the two freshmen guards Isaiah Evans and Kon Knueppel.
Knueppel is a 6’7″ guard/wing that will connect a ton of lineups for them whether he plays at the two or the three. The Milwaukee product has good size and fine athleticism, but what jumps out with Knueppel’s game is his seemingly very advanced feel for it. Knueppel plays at his own pace and like he’s been doing it for 5 years longer than he has. He’s deliberate with his drives and has a little Flagg in him the way he can do everything (rebound, pass, shoot, etc.). He reminds me of Duke Luke Kennard. I think Kon Knueppel will start given the connective nature of his game.
Isaiah Evans is a 6’6″ wing with a more prototypical body of a NBA prospect, but there are still growing pains with Evans. There are questions on if he’s ready to play against better competition as he used his superior length and talent often bail him out with tough shots instead of skillfully crafting better shots. He will for sure come off the bench, but there is a version of this year where he breaks out after gaining more reps.
Beyond that, Scheyer also brought in a trio of transfers who will elevate the floor of this team. Sion James from Tulane is another big bodied guard with above average shooting numbers that could be a rock for this team. Syracuse transfer forward Maliq Brown was an All-ACC defensive player last season. Finally, Big Ten 6th Man of the Year Mason Gillis was essentially the most efficient 3&D player in the country for Purdue last year.
Jon Rothstein predicted that Duke will run out a starting lineup of Proctor – Knueppel – Gillis – Flagg – Maluach. Everyone in that lineup is 6’6″ or taller and theoretically that lineup could really shoot, really rebound and defend. It would put a tremendous playmaking burden on Proctor and two true freshmen in Knueppel and Flagg.
Scheyer could then bring Sion James and Maliq Brown off the bench as stable veterans when needed and have Caleb Foster and 4-Star Freshman Darren Harris as shooters to rotate in when hot. The beef of the roster is questionable with 4-Star Center Patrick Ngongba out indefinitely with a foot injury. Out of necessity Flagg will have to play small-ball 5 this season which who knows could be the Blue Devils’ optimal lineup.
Rotations will have to be parsed through by Scheyer. Three of Duke’s players (Gillis, Brown & Flagg) are all best suited for the 4 position. While six (Proctor, Foster, Knueppel, James, Evans, and Harris) will be in competition for most of the 60 minutes a game in the 1-3 spot. More of those sixty minutes can go to those if they can succeed with a smaller Flagg-Brown or Flagg-Gillis frontcourt.
The glass half full perspective on this team shows Duke as a team full of great theoretical defenders with great size and length, a good rebounding team and one with a bunch of high percentage shooters. The glass half empty view would point out the sizable burden that a 17-year old Cooper Flagg will have on his shoulders to be an A+ defender & shot blocker erasing other teammates mistakes, to be a small-ball 5 for extended periods at 6’9″ 205lbs in his first college season, and how much of the playmaking and scoring will have to run through him on offense.
It’s the exact reason why Cooper Flagg’s ability to fulfill on the promise of this prized possession prospect will define Duke’s season. This year’s Duke roster is talented and the team could be great, but their greatness is completely intertwined with Flagg meeting his vaunted expectations.
So Why Him?
Plenty of presumed no. 1 picks play and don’t capture the National attention.
Chet Holmgren was a no.1 overall prospect that was a skinny white dude who could block everything and nail threes and he didn’t capture the National Media’s attention like Flagg has. Former Duke player Paolo Banchero ended up being that year’s no.1 pick and even made the Final Four, but was always the subheading to Coach K’s last dance.
Anthony Edwards was supremely talented and his infectious personality has garnered so much attention in the NBA that people broke the unspoken rule and have been comparing him to Michael Jordan. But at Georgia he was an afterthought that NBA draftniks had to seek out to watch his tape.
So, why is Flagg so appealing? A white guy from Maine who blocks everything and if you squint you can do the cliché “White Kevin Durant” metaphor because he’s skinny and can make a jumper is a cool player for Highlight Tape grinders but not a guaranteed household name. Yes, Cooper Flagg fits the hateable White guy at Duke role perfectly and will extend that tradition, but his buzz has been building long before the commitment to the Blue Devils.
Now, Cooper Flagg isn’t tremendously intriguing or popular because he stands as a great white hope that we can be proud of. No, Flagg being a white American from Maine is just odd. In a sea of information, highlights, memes, etc. we have seen before, Flagg stands out as something we haven’t.
Cooper’s basketball lineage and genetics from his parents gave him the sort of top-end athleticism required to be a top prospect, but for him to be noticed to be seen given where he grew up, Flagg needed an unrelenting work-ethic and constantly revving motor.
For him to rise from a Freshman at Nokomis High School to hear his name called first by Adam Silver he had to work tirelessly to improve and be this swiss-army knife, impossible to define player.
There are different ways to define a season of College Basketball. Often you can capture the eyeballs of everybody who cares slightly about Basketball and some of those who don’t. The rare ones do that and win the National Title in the process. For Flagg to be able to pass both those tests will require him to fulfill an impossibly difficult role for a 17 year old that could see him be a candidate for Freshman of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and even Naismith Player of the Year.
I don’t think we’ve seen a player like Cooper Flagg and that’s why he will be carefully watched, endlessly analyzed, and will define this season of College Basketball.