Cooper Flagg, the nation's top high school player, commits to Duke
The No. 1 high school boys basketball player in the country is off the board after Cooper Flagg announced he will play for the Duke Blue Devils next season. The 6-foot-8 forward is coming off the heels of his official visit to Duke where he took in "Countdown to Craziness" alongside two other five-star recruits, V.J. Edgecombe and Patrick Ngongba. Flagg chose Duke over last season's title winner, UConn.
It is a huge get for head coach Jon Scheyer and his staff after offering Flagg the summer before his sophomore year. Early on, Flagg told Yahoo Sports that Duke was one of his dream schools and Scheyer stayed consistent throughout the entire recruiting process, sometimes the only college head coach watching from the sidelines at his AAU games last spring and summer.
"I've grown up my whole life watching them and I like their playing style," Flagg told Yahoo Sports. "I just love the program, the history and the culture, and I'm looking forward to see what Jon Scheyer does. He's a great coach."
Scheyer recently signed a six-year contract extension that will take him through the 2028-29 season. He took over the program last year from Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski and led the Blue Devils to a 27-9 record and won the ACC tournament. They were a No. 5 seed in the NCAA men's tournament and lost in the second round to No. 4 seed Tennessee. Duke returned three starters (Jeremy Roach, Tyrese Proctor, Kyle Filipowski) and brought in the No. 2 recruiting class in the country led by five-stars Jared McCain and TJ Power and four-stars Sean Stewart and Caleb Foster. Duke enters the 2023-24 season as the No. 2-ranked team in the country, according to the preseason Associated Press poll.
With Flagg's commitment, Duke now has the No. 1 recruiting class in the country. Coming in next season along with Flagg are five-stars Kon Knueppel and Isaiah Evans and four-star Darren Harris. Duke is still in the mix for the No. 2 player in the country, Dylan Harper, as well as Edgecombe and Ngongba.
Flagg is playing his senior season for powerhouse Montverde Academy (Florida) and came off a jam-packed summer where he put up ridiculous numbers on Nike's Elite Youth Basketball League, averaging 26.9 points, 11.9 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per game for Maine United. Flagg and his squad lost to Cameron Boozer and Nightrydas Elite (Florida) in the championship game at Peach Jam, but Flagg had another dominating performance throughout the tournament, recording 10 or more blocks in three games and posted two triple-doubles, even getting the attention of LeBron James, who was there coaching his son, Bryce.
"Flagg is one of the best players to ascend the high school ranks in the last 10 years," one NBA scout told Yahoo Sports. "He's the best defender in the country and has a lot of intangibles to his game that make him a projected top prospect in his class."
Flagg is the most versatile player in the country and the top rim protector in high school basketball. He reclassified up from the 2025 high school class to the 2024 class in August and is the projected top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. NBA scouts and executives have been watching him dominate the high school scene for the last two years, and he's a player multiple franchises could make strategic moves to be in a favorable position to land him, similar to what a few teams did in an attempt to land Victor Wembanyama.
