The No. 1 seed Duke Blue Devils have been the hottest team in college basketball over the past two to three months, and after dominating the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament by a combined 66 points, they are set to face the No. 4 seed Arizona Wildcats on Thursday night in Newark, New Jersey.
Ahead of the highly anticipated matchup, Cooper Flagg’s mother, Kelly, shared some exciting news regarding the game. She revealed to NJ Advance Media that 15-20 people from their home state of Maine are expected to travel to the Prudential Center in New Jersey to support Flagg and his Duke teammates.
“I already know a ton of people from Maine that are planning on driving up,” Flagg said. ““It will definitely be a pretty big Maine population at the game, so I’m definitely excited to see a lot of familiar faces.”
The growing assumption is that Cooper Flagg will likely enter the NBA draft following his historic freshman season, but over a month ago, he made waves when he expressed his desire to return for another year.
“I want to come back next year,” Flagg said to The Athletic during an interview in February.
While that still seems far-fetched, considering he is projected to be the No. 1 overall pick, Flagg is focused on living in the moment with his teammates. His primary goal, along with everyone else in Durham, North Carolina, is to win a national championship, which would be Duke’s first since 2015.
“This is just something I dreamed about ever since I was a little kid,” Flagg said. “These are the moments that I imagined myself being in when I was in the driveway, things like that. Just a surreal feeling to be here in these moments and have these opportunities. I just feel really blessed.”
