DURHAM, N.C. — The 20 minutes were just a taste.
Or really teasing.
There's only so much you can glean from preseason, team meetings and intrasquad events like Friday night's Dukes Countdown to Craziness. It's as full of flashy elements as real basketball, with mood lighting, air cannons, and silly introductory dances. And obviously they don't count.
But they do It's meaningful.
That's a glimpse, especially for a team expected to be in the preseason top five that features the nation's top freshman from Cooper-Flag University and a slew of other NBA prospects. A snapshot of what's possible. That is, when junior guard Tyrese Proctor was on a fast break and saw Flagg, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, sprinting in front of him, Proctor went first to the outlet. I see him kicking passes and flagging up the load. As he takes off toward the rim…
Now, you start imagining the possibilities. As for the high-flying acrobatics to come, yes, but beyond that as well. Your mind wanders to the epic plays and games that could be in store for this team if they can live up to even a fraction of the hype that's still going around them.
At least that moment was conveyed. Flagg effortlessly soared off the Cameron Indoor Court, twisted backwards in the air and delivered the highlight dunk with aplomb.
The look on his face seemed to say there was more to come.
“The feeling you get when you're out there playing, you can't really describe it,” Flagg said. “You don't experience things like that until they happen.”
Flagg finished the night with 13 points (third overall considering he switched teams at halftime), three rebounds, three assists, and two turnovers. He was…a good, if not overly respectful, person.
“I thought Cooper was a little hesitant tonight and just getting a feel for things,” coach John Scheyer said. “That's the beauty of Coop. He's a team player and has a great feel for the game.”
That was evident in his first basket. The 6-foot-9 Maine native drove to his left from outside the arc, switching the ball mid-air to his right hand and showing off his signature touch and inside finishing. From the front row of the Duke University student section, raucous applause rang out and one Cameron Crazy was heard commenting on the event:
These were Cooper Flagg's first points at Duke.
The novelty around Flagg, especially early on, and especially if he's as good as expected, is somewhere near the stratosphere of Zion Williamson, which no one in college hoops has occupied since. It will become a thing. his first dunk. First, choose six. First 20-point game, first double-double. Everything. The continued rise of a figure already considered “generational” by the public before his 18th birthday will be keenly watched. (By the way, this was Dec. 21. That night, Georgia Tech pulled out the short sticks and played against the Blue Devils.)
Of course, Flagg can't look at this season that way. Many of his teammates, like fellow freshmen Carman Maruach and Conn Knuppel, will likely follow him to the NBA as early as next June. If Duke learned anything from its star-studded 2018-19 season with Williamson, it's how to deal with spectacle after phenomenon.
“You just have to stay put,” Proctor said. “Everyone knows who Coop is. Everyone knows who Kaman is. Everyone knows who these guys are. So from day one, I think everyone was on the same page. We didn't necessarily sit down and say, “We're going to win more than I do.” Everyone knows it to some degree. ”
But it's one thing to say that in front of the home fans on a night that's more ceremonial than serious, and quite another to maintain it after a tough early season period. In the first month of the season, Duke plays Kentucky and (deep breath) Arizona in the Champions Classic in Atlanta, Kansas in Las Vegas, and then hosts Auburn in the ACC-SEC Challenge in early December. . that's three The AthleticThe preseason top 10 teams are appearing one after another. By Flagg's birthday, we have a good idea of what kind of talent he is, what kind of team Duke University is, and how fair national title expectations are for this team. You can do it.
Friday was a taste of it all. It was 20 minutes before Duke plays 30-plus games over the next five, maybe six months.
There's no need to overreact.
But at least it's worth noting. Because Friday was the beginning of Flag and Dukes.
“I loved seeing him in a Duke uniform tonight,” Scheyer said. “That's all I know.”
(Photo: Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
