By Jonathan Lidskin
It’s been nearly 11 months since Cooper Flagg announced he was re-classifying up to the class of 2024. Since then, the 17-year-old phenom has committed to Duke, maintained the number one ranking in the 2024 class and led Montverde Academy to a 35-0 record. Now, he’s making headlines in the basketball community by competing and impressing against the best talent the United States has to offer.
On Monday, clips of Flagg went viral in a scrimmage between the USA Select team, and the United States National Team that will play in the Olympics in Paris next month. Stats were not officially kept, but videos of Flagg hitting a three over Anthony Davis, getting a putback over Bam Adebayo and hitting a fadeaway jumper with Jrue Holiday on him were surfacing on social media.
According to Marc J. Spears, an NBA coach who was in attendance said Flagg was the best player in the game for the USA Select Team. This is a team that includes Keegan Murray, Brandon Miller, Trey Murphy and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
The select team did end up losing the scrimmage to the Olympic squad 74-73, but after what Flagg did, not a single person in the college basketball community was focused on the score.
Flagg is just one part of Duke's loaded recruiting class that includes Khaman Maluach (#4), Isaiah Evans (#13), Kon Knueppel (#17), Patrick Ngongba ll (#20) and Darren Harris (#38) (rankings via 247Sports). Duke also brings back two guards in Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster as well as a handful to transfers to form what will arguably be the most talented team in college basketball this season.
After the game, quotes came out from coaches, select players and even Devin Booker with high praise for Flagg. Today, even in a small sample size should leave no doubt about Flagg’s ability. His freshman (and very likely only) season in college will be a special one and could turn into must-see T.V. the way Zion Williamson’s did.