Blueblood Challenges Duke Basketball Authority in Cooper Flagg Race
Over the weekend, Rivals' Rob Cassidy opined that the Duke basketball staff might have scared off other big-time programs from entering the fray for Montverde Academy (Fla.) sophomore Cooper Flagg due to the 6-foot-8, 195-pound five-star combo forward's confessed deep appreciation of all things Blue Devils.
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Flagg, a remarkably advanced all-around prospect who ranks No. 2 on the 247Sports 2025 Composite, has gone as far as to say he's partly modeled his game after former Duke basketball stars Grayson Allen and Jayson Tatum. So he's seemed thrilled to be on Jon Scheyer's wishlist since landing the historically early Blue Devil offer last May.
Amid all the growing hype in favor of Duke, though, the 16-year-old Cooper Flagg reported an offer from Kansas head coach Bill Self on Monday via the following tweet (in the comments, he noted his intention to write "receive" rather than "revive"):
Flagg's offer sheet still contains fewer suitors than one might expect for a talent of his caliber at this stage in his recruitment. But Kansas now joins Duke and UCLA as the bonafide bluebloods officially in the mix.
Even so, one would be hard-pressed to find any college coach who has already watched him more or made him a bigger priority than Scheyer. In the past two weekends, Duke basketball coaches have secured front-row seats at Nike EYBL events to see Flagg again cause jaws to drop on both ends of the floor.
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A decision seems unlikely to come anytime soon. After all, players in his class cannot begin taking official visits until August, and recruiters are not allowed to contact them directly until June 15.
Stay tuned to Blue Devil Country for more Duke basketball recruiting updates.