With focus on the present, Flagg shows this isn’t just a gap year on road to NBA

5 Apr 2025 - The Washington Post

Jerry Brewer

SAN ANTONIO — It’s hard to get past how young Cooper Flagg looks. On a basketball court, he’s precocious beyond belief, a luminous athlete with run-on talent. Seldom has the game seen a player as athletic, skilled, smart, intense, tough, conscientious and unselfish as Flagg. It seems hyperbolic to think of him as boundless. And then you see that baby face.

Flagg turned 18 just 3 1/2 months ago. He should be attending prom right now, not leading Duke to the Final Four. But even though youth defines him, it still doesn’t do him justice. If Flagg weren’t 6-foot-9, he could be mistaken for a 12-year-old.

“I’m just a regular kid,” he said. “I’m okay at basketball, I guess.”

Despite his acne and aw-shucks demeanor, Flagg is the man of the moment. His modesty belies his pro-ready game. Eleven weeks from now, he is expected to don an expensive suit, shake hands with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and pose for pictures as the No. 1 pick of the 2025 draft. When he decided to enroll in college a year early, he did so to expedite his future.

While on the fast track, Flagg has managed to stay present. For all the basketball blessings he has received, his focus is the gift he has given to the game.

Contrary to the breathless debate of the hour, the versatile forward isn’t the best freshman of the one-and-done era of college basketball. He doesn’t need to be, either. We’ve become addicted to making these odd running definitions of greatness, a problematic real-time ranking of success. It has gotten out of control, this obsession with overanalyzing unfinished résumés, tracking the accumulation of honors to reframe history rather than celebrating special feats in the moment. The best part of what Flagg does gets lost when you put him in a mythical race against the likes of Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson.

He’s not a star aiming to leap over all prodigies before him. He’s the star who has restored the virtue of the big freshman on campus.

Assuming Flagg is the No. 1 pick, he will be only the second in the past 10 years to take his team to the Final Four. For much of the past two decades, the super frosh has been the sport’s gold standard. Now such impact is a rarity. The playing styles of the NCAA and NBA have never been so different. As college hoops turn more professional and transactional, some of the biggest talents treat the sport like a oneyear minor league system, putting their personal development ahead of team culture.

The results — success, mediocrity or even failure — don’t dictate whether NBA teams will be intrigued by a player. But here’s Flagg, refusing to skip steps, still playing the game with childlike zeal. He didn’t come to college to protect his potential. He arrived at Duke chasing greatness.

“It’s hard to say what he’s not good at,” said Houston Coach Kelvin Sampson, who hopes to devise a game plan that can limit Flagg in Saturday’s national semifinal. “Now, he’s not as great at some things as he is at others. His floor is really good at everything. But his ceiling is just his size. He finishes with his left hand around the paint, with his right hand. He has a floater. He can make a three. Really good free throw shooter. If you double him, you better get there quick because he can pass.”

On Friday, Flagg accepted both the Associated Press and Oscar Robertson player of the year awards. He has averaged 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks this season. He’s an offensive engine and the most versatile defender in the country. As a playmaker, he has grown immensely after some well-publicized yips during clutch situations early in the season.

“He’s really special, and he really shouldn’t be a freshman,” St. John’s Coach Rick Pitino said. “He should be a senior in high school. He’s as good as I’ve seen in quite some time. He’s going to have a great pro career. It’s very difficult to win with freshmen. It’s very difficult. But they’re doing it.”

The upcoming NBA draft will be the 20th class since the league implemented its 19-year-old age limit in 2005, which ushered in the one-and-done era of college hoops. Without the jump from high school to the league, elite prospects set up camp in college for one year. It was fun. It was awkward. It turned laughable. During the first 10 years, the road to the Final Four often went through these impact freshmen. Over the past 10 years, they have complicated recruiting. Programs couldn’t say no to their talent, but they have experienced diminishing success.

LSU did not make the NCAA tournament when it had Ben Simmons, the top pick in 2016. The next year, Washington went 9-22, but Markelle Fultz still heard his name called first. In 2018, Buffalo upset Arizona in the first round, ending Deandre Ayton’s gap year. In 2020, Anthony Edwards went 16-16 with Georgia, and the next year, Cade Cunningham couldn’t lead Oklahoma State past the second round.

There was no way Flagg would fail at Duke. The Blue Devils never hand over their program to a single player. They usually have balanced rosters with multiple future NBA players. This one is stocked well, with a six-member freshman class, dynamic junior guard Tyrese Proctor and several veteran additions from the transfer portal. When Flagg was out with an ankle injury, they won the ACC tournament. There are cushions to support their best player. He utilizes that advantage better than most.

He accepted AP player of the year recognition as the youngest winner ever. He’s just the fourth freshman to grip the award, joining Durant (2007), Davis (2012) and Williamson (2019).

“Everything he does has taken our program to a new level,” Duke Coach Jon Scheyer said.

Now he has a chance to join the rarest company. Since the NBA’S age limit went into effect, Davis is the lone one-and-done No. 1 pick to lead his team to the national title. But in this century, Carmelo Anthony set the standard for impact freshmen in 2003 when he carried Syracuse to the championship. His combination of dominance and value remains unparalleled.

Davis, the defensive force on a great Kentucky team, came close. With a title, Flagg would come even closer to the Anthony standard, but because the Blue Devils are so talented, it’s hard to argue that he has been as singularly important to his team.

So he will have to settle for another accolade. Just when it seemed the diaper dandy was going out of style, Flagg proved immediate impact still matters as much as pro potential.

No matter how his college cameo ends, he was worth the fuss.