Duke basketball superstar [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] is off to a soaring start during what will surely be his only season in Durham, and KenPom certainly sees the Maine native as one of the best players in the nation.
As of Monday morning, Flagg sits behind only Auburn Tigers forward Johni Broome on the analytics site’s Player of the Year standings. Broome has opened up a pretty massive lead in fairness, with a 2.686 kPoY rating to Flagg’s 1.899, but the Blue Devils did pick up a head-to-head victory over the Tigers at the start of the month.
Despite a quiet game against Incarnate Word last Tuesday, Flagg still has four 20-point performances and four double-doubles through his first 10 games. In his five biggest games (Auburn, Arizona, Kansas, Louisville, and the Kentucky Wildcats), Flagg has averaged 21.0 points and 9.2 boards.
He leads the roster with 15.9 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.4 blocks, and his 1.5 steals are second on the team.
Broome, for his part, helped the Tigers sweep their first seven games with some monstrous production. He’s put together 19.7 points and 12.7 rebounds per game, including a three-game run against Iowa State, the North Carolina Tar Heels, and Memphis in Maui that saw him put up 21.7 points and 15.0 rebounds.