The Duke Blue Devils never fly under the radar in the college basketball world. A program with five national championships in the last 35 years can’t be anonymous. However, a prospect like [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] only makes the microscope focus a little harder.
The runaway hype for the presumed No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft would also be easy to reach a 17-year-old’s head. According to the Duke program, however, that hasn’t been an issue for Flagg.
During a Monday episode of The Devil’s Den podcast, head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] talked about how easily Flagg fit into the program despite the added weight of his recruiting status.
“The thing I love about him is he wants to be coached, he wants to be pushed,” Scheyer said. “He’s added to our environment, he’s added to the culture we’re trying to build because he’s come in with a chip on his shoulder. No entitlement, he’s been just hungry to work.”
When asked if he and his staff felt any pressure to perform given Flagg’s status as the best prospect in the country, Scheyer gave an important nugget of perspective about recruiting rankings for high schoolers.
“He’s 17,” Scheyer said. “We’ve got to help him.”
Flagg’s already gaining valuable pre-college experience with the USA Basketball Men’s Select Team, including a notable dunk during Sunday’s scrimmage against the Olympic team,