What to get out of Cooper Flagg this season, according to

• Jeff Borzello, ESPN

  • Personnel WriterOct 21, 2024, 09:00 AM ET Close Basketball recruiting insider.
  • Joined ESPN in 2014.
  • Graduate of University of Delaware.Since the summer season

of 2023, when he produced a traditionally dominant month of July and after that reclassified into the high school class of 2024, Cooper Flagg has been the forecasted No. 1 choice in the 2025 NBA draft.The hype has actually only grown in the previous 15 months.

Flagg committed to Duke, led Montverde Academy(Florida)to an undefeated season and nationwide high school champion, then held his own versus the USA Basketball Olympic team as the first college player since 2013 to be named to the U.S.A. Basketball Men’s Select Team. He likewise has multiple National Gamer of the Year awards and a gold medal from 2022. Flagg is 6-foot-9 with an extraordinary work principles and capability at both ends of the floor.Oh, and he does not turn 18 years old till December.The accolades are there. The NBA potential is known.But let’s not fast-forward until June right now. He has 5 months of college basketball to play– and he’s strolling into a circumstance in Durham with All-America

and championship game expectations. “It is very important for everybody to bear in mind he’s 17,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer informed ESPN this month.” This is a procedure. However he’s not ranging from it, he’s not scared of it.

And he’s been just such a good guy to coach.” To get a feel for his anticipated influence on the college game, we spoke to a handful of college coaches to get their impressions of the versatile forward, and how they might approach a matchup versus Flagg and heaven Devils.’That’s why you fear him so much’Flagg is among the biggest stories getting in the 2024-25 college basketball season. He didn’t participate in ACC media day previously this month however was still a constant topic of conversation.Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire stated,” He has a possibility to be among the special ones,”while NC State coach Kevin Keatts added, “When a guy’s got it, he’s got it.”College coaches saw Flagg plenty of times when he was at the high school level, dealing with the best competitors on the Nike EYBL circuit or at Montverde or with USA Basketball. So almost every coach already has a baseline evaluation of the star freshman.