NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — Only one 12 months in the past, he was right here contained in the Riverview Park Actions Heart, turning in a single ridiculous efficiency after one other at Peach Jam whereas additional rising his standing as a generational expertise and possible future No. 1 choose within the NBA Draft. One sport, he received 38 factors, 16 rebounds and 12 blocks. One other sport, he received 37 factors, 12 rebounds and 10 blocks. From begin to end, he dominated everyone within the 16-and-under division in a manner that eradicated any good causes to move on the chance to reclassify from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2024, graduate early and enroll at Duke.
I am writing about Cooper Flagg, in fact.
All people is lately — particularly after the 6-foot-9 ahead was sensational earlier this month whereas coaching with Staff USA in Las Vegas prematurely of the 2024 Olympic Video games in Paris. In a single sequence that went viral, Flagg dealt with strain from Jrue Vacation with zero points, used a display to get Anthony Davis switched onto him after which buried a 3-pointer within the face of the long run Naismith Memorial Corridor of Famer.
Take into consideration this for a second.
One 12 months, you are taking part in in opposition to a bunch of different 16 year-olds in a small city in South Carolina. Simply 12 months later, you are out in Las Vegas, on the court docket with LeBron James, Steph Curry and Anthony Edwards, driving for dunks, extending for blocks, launching from 3-point vary and simply usually wanting very comfy in opposition to a number of the greatest gamers on the planet regardless that you will not flip 18 till December.
“He regarded like a hell of a participant — [like] any person that is simply going to solely get higher with extra expertise,” mentioned Kevin Durant, who’s considered one of simply three males to ever do what some consider Flagg might do subsequent season, i.e., win the John R. Picket Award as a freshman. “[He’s] 17 years previous coming in right here taking part in like he is a vet nearly. No emotion. Simply going on the market and doing his job. And that is a superb signal.”
Sure, Flagg created fairly the thrill in Las Vegas — first with the best way he carried out, then with the best way America’s greatest talked about him. Consequently, the centerpiece of Duke’s top-ranked recruiting class has been a relentless matter of dialog amongst business people right here at Peach Jam, which serves as a sign that he’ll enter faculty as the game’s largest star regardless that established All-People like R.J. Davis (North Carolina), Hunter Dickinson (Kansas) and Mark Sears (Alabama) are again at school.
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It was right here inside this 120,000-square-foot facility, six miles throughout the Savannah River from Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership, the place Flagg actually burst onto the nationwide scene in July 2022. Simply days after serving to USA Basketball win gold within the Underneath-17 World Cup in Spain, the then 15-year-old returned stateside to compete in his first Peach Jam and solidified his standing as a uncommon 5-star prospect from the state of Maine.
Flagg, the son of two former faculty basketball gamers, was later named the 2022 USA Basketball Male Athlete of the 12 months, making him the youngest particular person to ever win that award. From there, it has been extra of the identical. With nowhere to go however down, the graduate of Montverde Academy in Florida one way or the other saved going up, ultimately establishing himself because the clearcut No. 1 recruit in 2024 regardless of being a 12 months youthful than most different prospects within the class. He is at the moment the reigning Gatorade Nationwide Participant of the 12 months, Naismith Excessive College Participant of the 12 months and winner of the Mr. Basketball USA award.
So what ought to we anticipate at Duke?
That is the query followers have been asking me most these days — and thus the query I requested numerous faculty coaches who spent the previous two years watching Flagg tear up grassroots basketball. Merely put, everyone agrees, there is no cause to assume he’ll be something apart from actually, actually good on condition that he has by no means struggled in opposition to older individuals since rising as a nationwide prospect, and on condition that he was simply actually, actually good in a coaching camp with All-NBA stars who have been, in some instances, greater than twice his age. Relaxation assured, the bust-potential right here is so low that it borders on non-existent. He will be terrific. However will Flagg even be the perfect — particularly so nice that he’ll grow to be the primary freshman to win the Picket Award since Duke’s Zion Williamson did it in 2019?
That is really a a lot harder query to reply.
Once more, Flagg will not flip 18 till December.
And although it is vital to reemphasize that “taking part in up” has by no means been a problem, it is also value noting that it is now more difficult than it was once for freshmen to flourish in faculty basketball, partially as a result of NIL offers are retaining older superior gamers at school longer than they in any other case would keep. Did you notice not a single freshman earned CBS Sports activities First Staff, Second Staff or Third Staff All-America honors final season? Mix that with the truth that three CBS Sports activities All-People are again at school, and with the truth that Williamson is the one freshman to win the Picket Award in any of the previous 12 seasons, and with the truth that actually not one of the males who’ve ever received the Picket Award as freshmen have been as younger as Flagg will likely be as a freshman, and also you begin to notice it is a huge ask.
Durant, the 2007 Picket Award winner and first freshman to ever obtain the trophy, entered faculty barely older than Flagg is getting into faculty. Davis, the 2012 Picket Award winner and second freshman to ever obtain the trophy, entered faculty roughly 9 months older than Flagg is getting into faculty. And Williamson, the 2019 Picket Award winner and third freshman to ever obtain the trophy, entered faculty roughly 5 months older than Flagg is getting into faculty.
In different phrases, no person as younger as Cooper Flagg will likely be subsequent season has ever received the Picket Award within the historical past of the game. That is why some are taking a wait-and-see strategy. However it’s fairly clear to most basketball observers that we have already seen sufficient to fairly conclude he’ll be impactful.
However how impactful? And the way rapidly?
In lower than 4 months, we’ll begin discovering out.