CBS Sports college basketball reporter Jon Rothstein watched a day of Duke basketball practice on Tuesday, and it’s hard to pay attention to anything other than [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] on the court.
The nation’s top-ranked freshman and presumed No. 1 overall pick in next year’s NBA draft already dunked in Cameron Indoor Stadium earlier in the week, and Rothstein couldn’t help but be impressed with his talent.
“Effortless is the best word to describe Cooper Flagg,” Rothstein wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “It feels like he’s playing Madden at the lowest possible level. As naturally gifted of a player as college basketball has seen a LONG time.”
At 6-foot-9, Flagg will be one of the most versatile defenders in college basketball from his first game. According to MaxPreps, he averaged 1.6 steals and 2.7 blocks per game during his senior season, an indication of his special ability to combine forward size with guard skills on the perimeter.
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The 17-year-old keeps making strides on the offensive end as well, and there was no greater evidence of that than his performance with the Select Team at Team USA Olympic training camp. While scrimmaging against NBA legends like LeBron James and Kevin Durant, Flagg scored back-to-back baskets while disrupting a possession on defense in less than a minute.
https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1838701814193050087
Rothstein also sounded enamored with Kon Knueppel and Darren Harris, two fellow freshmen from the 2024 recruiting class, and predicted which five Blue Devils will end up in the starting lineup.