The Duke Blue Devils’ hopes of winning the national championship came to an abrupt and stunning end on Saturday when they lost in the Final Four to Houston, 70-67, after leading by six points with under a minute to go.
Star forward Cooper Flagg finished an outstanding season with 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals, but he missed a jumper with eight seconds left that could have propelled Duke to the championship round.
He is now expected to declare himself eligible for this summer’s NBA draft, where he will presumably be the first player chosen.
While some may feel he will have a preference as far as which team he would like to be drafted by, he said it wouldn’t matter.
“It would be a blessing for me to get drafted (by any) team in the NBA,” Flagg said, per Adam Zagoria. “That’s a dream of mine, to play in the NBA. I would feel completely blessed and honored to play for any team.”
Fans had a variety of reactions on X.
“So the ‘I wanna stay another year’ was cap,” wrote one user.
“Won’t be saying that if he gets drafted by the Utah Jazz,” a second user wrote.
“He better stay his full four years with Duke if he wants to play for a team that isn’t the Wizards,” a third user wrote.”He’s a raptor and will win a ring first season,” a fourth user wrote.
“He’s got that dream-chaser energy! Gotta love the passion for the game!” another user said.”Alright bud come to the Knicks we’ll take ya,” a sixth user said.
Flagg is a very gifted, versatile and athletic 6-foot-9 forward who can just about do it all. He can score from all three levels, rebound, hit the open man and bother opponents defensively.
Some have compared him to former Central Arkansas standout Scottie Pippen, who went on to win six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls and got voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Flagg ended this season with averages of 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals a game, and he shot 48.1 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from 3-point range.
