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Cooper Flagg is aware of the hype.
He’s just not focused on it.
While much of the discussion around the incoming freshman will be about his status as the potential No. 1 overall pick of the 2025 NBA draft, he is just looking to lead the Duke Blue Devils in his first collegiate season.
“It’s about just staying grounded and staying where my feet are,” Flagg told Bleacher Report. “I’m here with my teammates taking it one day at a time. One practice, one game at a time. So I’m just trying to focus on each individual day and trying to get better.”
The possibility of Flagg getting even better is surely music to the ears of NBA scouts, as he is 6’9″ with the ability to make plays off the dribble, anchor a defense and pose matchup problems for any opponent.
Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman projected the Duke swingman as the No. 1 overall pick in his latest mock draft and highlighted how his “gradual improvement” as someone who can make plays in isolation is so “encouraging, particularly for a player who already has special physical traits, IQ, and competitiveness for translatable play-finishing, passing, and defense.”
Wasserman also pointed out “hype has been building around Cooper Flagg for years, and scouts’ desire to see a franchise-changer is even greater coming off a draft that lacked a consensus No. 1 overall talent.”
There has also been plenty of buzz around Rutgers stars Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper in the race to be the top pick, but Flagg already has experience playing against some of the NBA’s best after he became the first college player since 2013 to play on USA Basketball’s select team that scrimmaged the national squad ahead of the Olympics.
“The level of physicality and the level of basketball IQ that all those guys play with,” Flagg said when asked what his biggest takeaway was from the experience that will help him in the college game and moving forward. “It’s just a different level. I know I’ll have to raise the level on that front and just be ready.”
Flagg being asked to participate was particularly notable, as both Doug McDermott and Marcus Smart were experienced college players who had already proven themselves when they played in 2013.
That stands in stark contrast to the freshman who is yet to play a college game, but that didn’t stop him from impressing even the game’s biggest stars with his performance.
“He looked like a hell of a player,” Kevin Durant told reporters in July when discussing Flagg. “He’s somebody that’s only going to get better with more experience. He’s 17 years old coming in here playing like he’s a vet almost. No emotion.”
The showing against the Olympians only added to the hype that started well before he arrived at college.
Flagg was a 5-star recruit and the No. 1 overall player in the class of 2024, per 247Sports’ composite rankings, meaning there will be no shortage of expectations when he plays at a powerhouse such as Duke.
Those expectations were also made perfectly clear when he was named to the Associated Press preseason All-American men’s basketball team alongside North Carolina’s RJ Davis, Alabama’s Mark Sears, Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson, Auburn’s Johni Broome and Arizona’s Caleb Love.
Flagg and Love received the same amount of votes, so the team included six players.
The biggest difference between the 17-year-old and the rest of the players on the team is experience, as he is the only underclassman among a group of seniors who have already proven themselves on some of college basketball’s biggest stages.
“Obviously, it’s an honor,” Flagg said. “I’m blessed to get that recognition. But I also don’t try to focus on that stuff at all. I’m always just focused on being here with my teammates every day in practice and trying to get better.”
That type of recognition isn’t going to stop, as Gatorade announced Tuesday he is the newest member of its elite athlete roster that includes headline names such as Candace Parker, Jayson Tatum, Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Karl Anthony Towns and Juju Watkins, among others.
The 2024 Gatorade Best Male Player of the Year is also the first men’s college basketball player to sign a name, image and likeness deal with the company.
“I’ve been drinking Gatorade my whole life,” Flagg said. “Being given the opportunity to partner with Gatorade as a brand was something that was really intriguing to me and really exciting. I’m really blessed to have this opportunity.
“I’m really excited to join the roster. Everyone knows all those names that are on the roster, so it’s a huge blessing for me to join the list and some of those names.”
He will be under quite the spotlight as Gatorade’s newest athlete, especially as he competes in the ACC and attempts to lead the Blue Devils to March Madness in their pursuit of championships.
Their schedule features games against Kentucky, Arizona, Kansas, Auburn, Louisville, Illinois and, of course, the latest editions of one of the most storied rivalries in all of sports with North Carolina.
But Flagg is focused within instead of circling those games on the calendar.
“The thing I’m most looking forward to is the opportunity to play with all my teammates,” he said. “We’ve already built a strong bond, and we’ll continue to get closer and stronger as a team before we go wherever this journey will take us.”
Part of going to Duke means that journey is expected to end in glory.
After all, the program is one of the gold standards in college basketball with five national championships and 17 Final Four appearances. It reached the Elite Eight last season and is looking to take the next step by hanging another banner with the star freshman.
Flagg also has an opportunity to cement his status as the No. 1 overall pick and perhaps even challenge for the Naismith Award as the nation’s best player if he can live up to the hype.
“As a team, if we can come together and everyone can fill their roles and do their jobs and do what makes them good, it can be a really special year,” he said. “We can end up where we want to at the end.”
That would mean lifting the trophy as national champions.
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