Like it or not, Duke’s Cooper Flagg is college basketball’s biggest story | Baxley

DURHAM — Cooper Flagg won’t be 18 years old until late December. By the time the Duke basketball freshman celebrates his next birthday, the Blue Devils will be 11 games into the 2024-25 season.

Flagg, a 17-year-old Maine native, is surrounded by a level of hype in Durham that is bringing back memories of Zion Williamson’s one-and-done experience with the Blue Devils.

Having already signed an endorsement deal with New Balance before playing his first college game, Flagg will likely be the most polarizing player in college basketball. He’s already the biggest story.

“I’ve seen a lot of different seasons, different hype, different expectations,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said Friday. “With Cooper … I don’t know if we’ve ever had a 17-year-old with as much attention around him.”

Even the Zion Williamson hype train didn’t leave the station until the Blue Devils bludgeoned Kentucky in the opening game of the 2018-19 season.

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The Cooper Flagg hype train has been rolling along since he decided to reclassify and join the Blue Devils a year earlier than expected. It picked up steam this summer when Flagg impressed NBA players in Las Vegas at training camp for Team USA’s Olympic basketball team. 

It hit another gear this week when NBA champion and Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett heaped praise on Flagg. 

From here on out, it’ll be pedal to the metal, with no brakes — and no breaks for everyone else in college basketball — over the next seven months.

NBA scouts will come out in droves to catch a glimpse, hoping their franchise is the one that will be able to #CaptureTheFlagg in the 2025 NBA Draft. Flagg is the runaway favorite to be the top pick and mediocre teams might err on the side of tanking to better their chances of landing the No. 1 selection.

“As far as hype and all that goes, that’s something that you learn to deal with,” Flagg said during the Blue Devils’ annual preseason media day.

“For me, it’s about just…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/not-duke-cooper-flagg-college-204239949.html

Author : The Fayetteville Observer

Publish date : 2024-09-27 20:42:39

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