Cooper Flagg’s Legacy Cemented Amid Duke's March Madness Run

Projected No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg has cemented an unbelievable collegiate legacy in his sole season at Duke.

Mar 29, 2025; Newark, NJ, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Cooper Flagg (2) celebrates with guard Kon Knueppel (7) during the second half against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the East Regional final of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

On Oct. 30, 2023, then-16-year-old Cooper Flagg officially announced his commitment to the Duke Blue Devils. The only other competition being the UConn Huskies.

Flagg was already projected to be the 2025 NBA Draft’s top pick nearly a year-and-a-half ago, but it wasn’t known how his lone season with the Blue Devils would go.

Duke’s Final Four matchup against Houston on Saturday should be some indication; Flagg has been a marvel.

Flagg got off to a decent start, continuing to look the part of a future top pick before the smallest available lull across a few games. From there, he dominated, cruising to a likely National Player of the Year win with nearly 19 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks per game.

And his success has more than carried over to the postseason.

Flagg has added double-digit scoring efforts in all four rounds so far, scoring 14 points against Mount St. Mary’s, 18 against Baylor, a whopping 30 against Arizona, and his least efficient outing of 16 against Alabama.

Overall in the postseason, he’s continued his dominance, scoring 19.5 points on 45% shooting, with 7.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists to boot.

The No. 1-seeded Blue Devils have a legitimate shot at cutting the final nets of the 2024-25 NCAA season — despite three other No. 1 seeds standing in their way presently. But even if they’re ousted in the round of four, Flagg has more than cemented his legendary legacy, both with Duke and in college ball in general.

The 6-foot-9 forward has very genuinely been one of the best one-and-done prospects to grace collegaite ball in the last few decades, rivaling near-anyone's stat-line with one of the highest box plus-minuses ever.

To this point, there’s almost nothing that could dethrone Flagg from being the NBA’s top pick in a matter of months.