“Coach K Drops Bombshell: Cooper Flagg’s Freshman Year Tougher to Match Than Carmelo’s Title Run”
In the high-stakes world of college basketball, comparisons are constant—but few hit like this. Legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski just ignited a firestorm by declaring that Cooper Flagg’s freshman season might be even more impressive than Carmelo Anthony’s iconic title-winning run at Syracuse. While Carmelo brought home the championship in 2003, Coach K says Flagg’s all-around dominance, leadership, and poise under the spotlight were “tough to match”—placing the Duke phenom in truly rare air.
While there have been many comparisons made between Cooper Flagg and other top players, Coach K believes that Flagg’s freshman year performance is in a league of its own. The Duke standout has drawn comparisons to Larry Bird, Zion Williamson, Andrei Kirilenko and Carmelo Anthony
Mike Krzyzewski, who coached the Blue Devils to five national championships, weighed in on the hype surrounding Flagg and what he’s seen from the No. 1 pick of the 2025 NBA draft. He joined 99.9 The Fan’s Adam Gold Show this week to talk all things Duke basketball.
Gold brought up Carmelo Anthony — a former Syracuse star whom Krzyzewski coached on the Olympic team — and asked how he would compare Flagg to Anthony.
“Well, he had the same impact on a program in that Carmelo, they won a national championship … but as far as stats go and what he did for the team, I mean, Cooper led our team in every stat,” Coach K said (TS: 13:30). “He was a national leader in all those areas.
“The amount of attention that was focused on him was as much as anybody in the last couple decades in college basketball. So he had the spotlight on him all the time — and he delivered.
“That didn’t take anything away from Carmelo. He delivered too, and the fact is he was a national champion. Cooper fell just short of that goal, but performance-wise, it’s tough. It’s pretty tough to match what Cooper did as a freshman here.”
Anthony helped Syracuse win a national championship in his lone season in 2003, averaging 22.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. On the other hand, Flagg had a similar success with the Blue Devils but couldn’t bring home the hardware. He put up 19.2 ppg and 7.5 rpg while leading Duke to the Final Four last season.
Coach K praises Flagg as Duke’s most talented freshman
When it comes to Duke basketball, Coach K has seen it all. He coached the Blue Devils for over 40 years, leading them to unprecedented success. A great deal of talent passed through Durham, under him — many of them had fabulous NBA careers.
Even with his extensive experience, Coach K believes that Flagg is the best freshman talent he has ever seen.
“Grant (Hill) is the best player to ever play at Duke. (Christian) Laettner is the most accomplished,” Krzyzewski told Sirius XM in April. “Cooper (Flagg) is definitely the best freshman that has ever played.”
Many did not agree with Krzyzewski’s comments, pointing to Zion Williamson as the most talented freshman at Duke.
