Duke’s most hyped player since Zion? How Cooper Flagg carries weight of expectations

Cooper Flagg glided along the 3-point line during a Duke basketball practice Friday, catching passes before turning and sinking one shot after another with a miss or two occasionally mixed in.

Standing 6-foot-9 with a wingspan that appears to exceed 7 feet, Flagg is renowned as one of the nation’s top players before he plays his first college game for Duke.

His mix of height, length, shooting ability and playmaking skills have him already projected as the No. 1 pick in next summer’s NBA Draft.

For an elite program like Duke’s that’s accustomed to being in the spotlight, the hype around Flagg ramps up even more as the Blue Devils prepare to open the season Nov. 4.

Duke associate head coach Chris Carrawell already feels it just from random interactions around town.

“This is when you know,” Carrawell said, “when a non-basketball fan asks in the grocery store, `That Cooper Flagg guy?’ And you know they don’t watch basketball every day. But they know, they know about him. So that’s how you know, like, the interest in him.”

Flagg’s comparison, for this situation, is Zion Williamson, who arrived at Duke in summer 2018 as a freshman already well-known for YouTube videos of his dunking prowess. The 6-7, 275-pound Williamson showed he’s much more than that, leading Duke to an ACC championship while being named national player of the year before becoming the NBA Draft’s No. 1 pick.

But Williamson wasn’t projected as the top pick before he even played a college game. Flagg is.

So he’s learning to focus on his game and enjoy the ride.

“I think as far as hype and all that goes, that’s something that you learn to deal with,” Flagg said. “And for me, it’s about just playing basketball. So I’m excited to get going with our team. We have an incredible group of guys. I’ve got to know the team, everybody on the team really well. So I’m just really excited to get going. And as far as hype, for me, I’m just focused on playing basketball and trying to win every day.”

Duke coach Jon Scheyer grew close to Flagg and his family during the recruiting process. It was just a year ago when Flagg reclassified to the 2024 class, deciding to graduate early and begin his college career at age 17.

Scheyer and his staff knew the talented player they were getting. Now they are learning even more about the superstar.

“With Cooper, I don’t know if we’ve ever had a 17-year-old with as much attention around him,” Scheyer said, “and a lot of it rightfully so. The high school career he’s had and what he’s done. But we talk about all things we can control and that’s been our focus. Cooper does an amazing job of coming to practice, to work every day. I don’t think he likes the attention, to be honest. I think he wants to be just like the other guys in terms of not caring about the attention, wanting to win, wanting to compete. And he’s done a great job of setting the tone for that.”

Flagg may not care for the hype but he can’t help but fuel it. He plays with an edge on the court, not afraid to have the ball in his hands at the game’s critical moments. It all began back in his native Maine, playing on an outdoor hoop in the driveway with his two brothers for hours on end.

“Just kind of building that competitive spirit and just wanting to win,” Flagg said. “And I mean, that’s kind of what it goes back to, the way I was raised. My parents just instilled that within me of just trying to play hard in every possession and always giving 100% really. So I think it just comes down to how much I love to play basketball, how much I want to win, and they’re just having fun.”

Scheyer, his staff and Duke’s players have already noticed something that might not come through simply watching all those highlight videos of Flagg online. That competitive edge, that motor, is consistent, they said.

“You see a guy that doesn’t turn his competitiveness on and off,” Scheyer said. “How hard he works, it stands out to you, and that’s the thing. Every day he’s been here, he has competed as hard as he can, which, if you’re checking boxes of what’s a skill or not, to me, that’s a skill of how hard he competes.”

And as for all those 3-pointers he drilled at the start of Friday’s practice? That’s just part of Flagg’s game, which gives him the ability to score anywhere on the court while defending both at the rim and on the perimeter.

“I think the area that he’s further ahead than I maybe thought is shooting,” Scheyer said. “He’s a good shooter. You know, he can do so much else. Still, I think the best players we’ve had here, they can handle, they can create their own shot. They’re not always shot ready. He still needs to work on that, but his shooting is, I’ve been very impressed. He’s a consistent shooter.”