Indiana Coaches Watching Cooper Flagg at Nike's EYBL Peach Jam
There are highly touted high school basketball prospects, and then there is Cooper Flagg. The 6-foot-8, 195-pound athlete from Monteverde Academy was the talk of town this week at Nike's EYBL Peach Jam event, and Mike Woodson's coaches were on sight to see him, according to a report from On3's Joe Tipton.
Flagg is the No. 2 overall basketball recruit in the class of 2025, trailing only Cam Boozer, son of former NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer. Led by Flagg, Maine United beat Boozer's team in a game at Peach Jam earlier this week.
Indiana basketball does not currently have any commits in the class of 2025, and Flagg has not yet been offered by the Hoosiers. He's teammates with Liam McNeeley, another Indiana recruiting target from Montverde Academy, and Flagg was seen wearing a McNeeley t-shirt at Peach Jam.
McNeeley, the No. 7 recruit in 2024, has been offered by Indiana, which is one of the final six schools he is considering, alongside Texas, Alabama, Kansas, Michigan, and Oklahoma.
Former Indiana point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino and current sophomore forward Malik Reneau attended Montverde, and Indiana is also recruiting 2024 prospects Asa Newell, Derik Queen and Curtis Givens.
Before transferring to Monteverde as a sophomore, Flagg also played in Maine, the same home state as current Indiana women's basketball center Mackenzie Holmes.
Landing Flagg would be a monumental commitment for Indiana, should that day ever come. He excels as a shot maker and creator, as a passer off the dribble, and especially as a help-side defender rotating to the rim to contest shots.
Flagg hails from the new-aged family of oversized shot creators, pushing the ball up the court and taking primary ball handling responsibilities for his team despite being the tallest player on the floor.
He can make one-handed skip passes off a live dribble. He doesn't miss open cutters when holding the ball at the top of the key. He's excellent at using his handle to draw multiple defenders before kicking the ball to open teammates
Flagg is No. 32 in the white jersey in the highlights below.
As a shooter, Flagg is capable of hitting spot-ups from deep, sprinting off the ball into high difficulty jumpers, and creating his own shot off the bounce.
He prefers to attack closeouts and create from isolation driving to his left, as he more often pulls up for a mid-range or 3-point shot rather than driving to his strong right hand with intention of pressuring the rim.
The lack of rim pressure is much more a nitpick than it is any sort of flaw, and it's perfectly fine to prefer a pull-up when you're as pristine and polished a shooter as Flagg is. Players as tall, as lanky, and as explosive as Flagg aren't supposed to have shooting touch like you can see in the clips below.
This doesn't even touch on what might be the best part of his game, which is his crazed, one-of-a-kind defense.
Describing Flagg as relentless on the defensive end of the floor would be an understatement, and describing him as a "sneaky athlete" in any way, shape, or form would be totally inaccurate. There is nothing sneaky about Flagg's athleticism.
Flagg feels obligated to always rotate to the rim in order to blow up a hapless opponent's layup attempt. Protecting the rim is priorities No. 1, 2, and 3 for him on defense, and he plays with an imperative to fly in for a contest whenever a drive is made.
Watch especially the third clip in this montage of plays, where Flagg perfectly times his rotation and jump in order to completely destroy the shot, and then throws a perfect no-look pass in transition just for kicks.
Even when a shot isn't attempted, his impact is felt. Deterring shots at the rim is almost if not more important than blocking or altering them altogether.
Here is Flagg scaring Cam Boozer's twin brother, Cayden, into passing up what should have been a surefire layup and throwing an off-target pass that stalls out the offensive possession. This is NBA-level defense from a 16 year-old prospect.
Saying that he's a 16 year-old is a good reminder that this is still a big "if" for Mike Woodson and the Indiana Hoosiers.
IU assistant coaches were only seen at his game, and it's still going to be at least two years until the superstar Flagg ever plays a game for any college team, if he even chooses to take the collegiate route to the NBA.
But it's hard not to get excited at the mere possibility of Cooper Flagg being an Indiana Hoosier.
He's a one-of-a-kind, generational prospect, and given the ties that can be made between him and Indiana, along with Woodson's spectacular ability as a recruiter, it's not the craziest proposition out there that Flagg will be wearing Crimson and Cream in a couple of years.
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- INDIANA OFFSEASON EVALUATION: In our offseason evaluation series, we discussed the Indiana Hoosiers, who lost two players to the NBA Draft, but bring in loads of intriguing young talent. CLICK HERE
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