Duke’s Cooper Flagg ‘not performing’ as expected, coach says

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Although Cooper Flagg was not in attendance at this week’s annual ACC Tipoff, it’s clear that Duke’s star freshman is still the talk of the league.

The nation’s top incoming recruit — and projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft — is entering college basketball with plenty of hype, and buzz around the ACC surrounding his impending debut. But his teammates and coaches say the attention hasn’t affected him since arriving on campus.

“His mentality every day — for a 17-year-old — is something I’ve never really seen before,” junior guard Tyrese Proctor told ESPN. “Off the floor, he doesn’t pay attention to all the media. There’s a lot going on externally and I feel like — he’s a humble kid. He’s just focused on winning and doing his job for the team.”

“He’s a tremendous kid,” added sophomore guard Caleb Foster. “He’s a great teammate, he competes every day. He’s Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, who was the No. 1 recruit in the 2024 class; he’s very humble. He fits right in with us.”

Head coach John Scheer has plenty of experience dealing with outside noise and freshmen entering college with outside expectations. He was an assistant coach under Mike Krzyzewski when Duke signed top three recruits in the 2018 class, including Zion Williamson, and was also on Durham’s staff when the Blue Devils drafted Paolo Banchero, the No. 1 pick in 2022.

Scheer said Flagg has shown no signs of selfishness or crippling ego during his time with the Blue Devils.

“He’s a joy to coach,” he told ESPN. “He’s got an amazing balance of humility and confidence. Humility allows us to coach him really hard and for him not to let himself down or take the wrong path. He truly wants to be the best version of himself. When your most talented player, your best player, it sets the tone for the rest of the team that that’s what we had with Zion, they’re not too big for anything.

“It’s important for all of us to remember that he’s 17,” Scheer added. “It’s a process. But he’s not running from it, he’s not afraid of it. And he’s a good guy to coach.”

After last season’s Elite Eight loss to NC State, Duke has seen players travel to the NBA draft and transfer portals. Only two players remain from that team, Proctor and Foster. But Scheyer rebuilt the roster with the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class and landed a trio of veteran role players from the transfer portal that will see minutes from Day One.

Freshman guard Kon Neupel, who debuted at No. 6 in ESPN’s Top 100 NBA draft rankings, has generated plenty of buzz in the preseason, along with transfers Mason Gillis (Purdue), Malik Brown (Syracuse) and Seon James (Tulane).

“The hype train, whatever you want to call it, is there,” Scheier said. “You can feel it. It’s obvious to me. But that’s what you want. It means you’re on the field. The thing I’ve tried to convey to our team, it doesn’t mean anything.”

But what it did do was put Flagg in an unfavorable situation and bring out his competitive drive.

“He’s knocked back,” Scheer said. “And his team lost. Not all the time. Not often. But it happened. It’s good for him.”

“There’s really nothing he can’t do,” added Proctor. “The key is that he competes at such a high level. He hates to lose.”

While other ACC coaches aren’t quite as excited about preparing for and going up against Flagg, they know how good the Maine native can be this season — and in the future.

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts, who led the Wolfpack to the Final Four in April, has seen the flag for years on the grassroots circuit. But his appreciation for Flagg’s game was taken to a new level when he played against the men’s national team as part of the USA Select Team over the summer.

“When a guy gets it, he gets it,” Kitts told ESPN. “You get a chance to watch him in the summer and you see how good he is, but I think the one thing that opens your eyes is when he’s playing against grown men, challenging, Olympic teams. You’ve got an opportunity. It’s a really There’s no denying the bright side that he’s a really good basketball player.”

Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire played 13 seasons in the NBA and was most recently an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics in 2023. He thinks Flagg can have a similar impact on the Duke program from a national perspective as Christian Laettner.

“Offensively, he’s good — I think he’s going to get better offensively. When I say he’s going to get better offensively, I mean it’s going to slow down for him,” Stoudamire told ESPN. “He’ll know exactly where he’s getting his (shot) from. He’ll know exactly how to get to his spots on the floor. He’s pretty good defensively, man. He’s pretty good at staying between his man and the basket. He can do a lot of things.

“He has a chance to be someone special.”