Jasyson Tatum, Zion Williamson, Coach K, and Kyrie Irving, are all some of the greatest players to ever come out of college basketball, yet they all have one thing in common. All of these players share the common greatness and domination of the Duke Blue Devils basketball program. Throughout the modern era of college basketball, Duke has been the name at the top of the march madness brackets for years, and somehow, they continue to create some of the world’s greatest talents and athletes. Under Coach K’s brilliant coaching and recruiting process, the team dominated the early 21st century of basketball, but after his retirement, questions arose due to the continuance of the team’s dominance. However, freshman small forward Cooper Flag is putting all these questions to rest with one of the greatest freshman seasons in college basketball history.
After Flag’s game against Virginia, he became the first ACC player with 500 points, 100 assists, and 30 blocks in the last 25 years. His name is starting to be correlated with “the first player to…” and “the first freshman to…” yet he continues to dominate the conference and ascend Duke to the top of the college basketball hierarchy once again. “We were switching one through five. Our guards were on their bigs, and I think they were taking advantage of that,” Isaac McKneely said after the loss. “Even when they couldn’t grab it, they were tipping it out to guys and they were getting threes off of that. … We’ve just got to keep fighting on the glass.” Virginia’s Guard McKneely reflected upon Duke’s dominance on the court.
In the game against Virginia, Flag grabbed more rebounds than the Cavaliers in the first
20 minutes. Flag showed his complete dominance and is continuing to do so as he moves forward in the regular season and eventually the playoffs. “He’s a special young man,” said Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley, His talent level, his basketball IQ, his level of toughness, not afraid of those moments, protect the rim, make the right play, make the right read. He had all that.”
But where does Cooper Flags season rank amongst some of the all-time greats? His numbers don’t lie, when compared against players such as Anthony Davis or Carmelo Anthony, he puts up all-around numbers like a big and a small shifty guard. Cooper Flags is an all-around player and an absolute necessity to the team but what sets him apart from the greats is winning big. As March Madness approaches, this gives him the opportunity to cement himself in college basketball legacy. Winning the big one as the key factor as a freshman is what sets aside Cooper Flag from some of the greatest freshman seasons of all time.
