Cooper Flagg, the top possibility in secondary school ball and the number one to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, reported his obligation to Duke on Monday.
Cooper Flagg picked the Blue Villains over UConn.
Duke was viewed as the mind-boggling number one since the beginning of Flagg’s enlistment. Mentor Jon Scheyer made his attendance felt at Flagg’s games, in any event, when Flagg was playing on the 15U Nike EYBL circuit, and kept on being a staple at his games the previous spring. Mentors from UConn, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan likewise invested energy watching him this previous summer.
Three schools arose for Flagg: Duke, UConn and Kansas. He took an authority visit to Storrs, Connecticut, in late September, as the Huskies kept on shutting the hole. Soon after, Flagg dropped a booked visit to Kansas, leaving simply the Blue Villains and the Huskies. In any case, a second visit to Duke, for the Blue Fiends’ Commencement to Madness occasion last end of the week, solidly moved the energy back toward Scheyer and the Blue Demons.
“After I got nearby, I truly began to imagine myself in Durham,” Flagg told Bang in his responsibility video. “All the affection I felt made me truly energized, seeing every one of the Crackpots and the climate in Cameron. I’m regarded that I have the chance to join the fraternity.”
In August, Cooper Flagg reported he was renaming from the 2025 class to 2024 and wanted to enter school the following fall. He will turn 18 in December of his first year, making him qualified for the 2025 NBA draft.
Cooper Flagg, a 6-foot-8 forward from Maine, established himself as the chief possibility in the country with a significant length of useful trips in June and July. He entered the mid year positioned No. 2 in the 2025 class behind Cameron Lush, however he procured MVP praises at the Public Ball Players Affiliation Top 100 Camp in Orlando, Florida, in late June, and afterward put on a virtuoso show at the Nike EYBL Peach Jam in July.
In quite possibly of the most reliably prevailing appearance in the occasion’s set of experiences, Cooper Flagg found the middle value of 25.4 places, 13 bounce back, 5.7 helps and 6.9 blocks at the Peach Jam. He had a twofold in each of the seven games, including three triple-copies. He set up 38 focuses, 16 bounce back, 6 helps and 12 blocks against Expert Abilities and 37 focuses, 12 bounce back, 6 helps and 10 blocks against New Levels Lightning.
By and large, Cooper Flagg found the middle value of 26.8 places, 12.4 bounce back, 4.7 helps, 5.2 blocks and shot 37.4% from 3-point range in 22 games with Maine Joined the previous spring and summer.
Subsequent to driving Nokomis Territorial Secondary School (Maine) to a state title as a secondary school first year recruit, Cooper Flagg moved to Montverde Institute (Florida) to play for unbelievable secondary school mentor Kevin Boyle. He played in 25 games last season, setting up 9.8 focuses, 5.2 bounce back, 3.0 helps and 2.2 blocks in just shy of 18 minutes for each game.
He’s taking on a greater job disagreeably for Montverde this season, averaging 19.0 focuses, 8.7 bounce back and 4.3 aids three games at the Boundary Association in Las Vegas recently.
Cooper Flagg addressed USA Ball at the FIBA U17 World Cup in 2022 at only 15 years of age, helping lead it to the gold decoration. He found the middle value of 9.3 places, 10.0 bounce back and a group high 2.4 takes and 2.9 blocks in seven games, including a 10-point, 17-bounce back, eight-take, four-block execution in the last against Spain. The 17 bounce back were a solitary game record for the men’s U17 group. He was named USA Ball’s Male Competitor of the Year in December 2022.
“Cooper Flagg is simply unique,” a NBA scout told ESPN over the mid year. “He has the psychological cosmetics. He’s reliable with his mentality, engine and creation. In the event that he doesn’t foster an ounce of his hostile bundle from this day forward, he’s still possibly in the running for a cautious player of the year at the NBA level. Simply the movements that he’s displayed with the live-ball playmaking, shot-making off the bob, intuitive peruses and plays on the two finishes and afterward the way in which he holds himself … he gets an opportunity to be a groundbreaking ball player in the game all in all.”
“Cooper Flagg is what a cutting edge wing resembles in the NBA,” one school mentor added. “Long, athletic, flexible and can spill, pass and shoot. I think the power and seriousness he plays with will make an interpretation of truly smooth to a higher level.”
Cooper Flagg’s responsibility promptly makes Duke the number one to land the No. 1 enlisting class in the country. The Blue Villains previously had five-star wing Isaiah Evans (No. 8) and top-50 gatekeepers Kon Knueppel (No. 22) and Darren Harris (No. 45) in the crease, and stay in quest for five-star possibilities V.J. Edgecombe (No. 5) and Pat Ngongba (No. 19). Every one of the three commits and Edgecombe and Ngongba visited Duke for Commencement to Madness close by Cooper Flagg two ends of the week prior.
Scheyer handled the No. 1 and negative. 2 selecting classes in his initial two cycles since being named Mike Krzyzewski’s replacement.