Rich get richer: Duke lands No. 1 overall prospect Cooper Flagg
The No. 1 prospect in the class of 2024 will play his college basketball at Duke, as five-star Cooper Flagg announced his intention to sign with head coach Jon Scheyer’s program on Monday. Widely considered to be one of the top prospects in high school basketball regardless of class, Flagg, who chose Duke over fellow finalist UConn, will bring a rare breed of versatility to Durham, where he promises to make an instant impact on the ACC and the sport as a whole.
Below, Rivals explores what the Blue Devils are getting as well as what Flagg’s commitment means for the bigger picture.
WHAT DUKE IS GETTING
Flagg is as promising a prospect as there is in all of high school basketball, and his game is all about versatility. There is very little the 6-foot-10 doesn’t do reasonably well, but his upside is even more tantalizing than his current level of dominant production. Flagg spent the summer terrorizing the 16U division of the EYBL to the tune of 26.9 PPG, 11.9 RPG, 4.7APG and 4.5 BPG in 17 contests. He recorded 14 double-doubles and showed the ability to impact contests in every corner of the stat sheet. The fact that he’s not one of the younger prospects in the 2024 class makes his trajectory extra encouraging as he appears to be improving as both a ball handler and a long-range shooter at a rapid rate. Flagg shot 34 from three-point range this summer and was a scoring machine from all over the court, shooting 55% from the floor. It’s his game-changing defensive versatility, however, that impresses most. Flagg is the most impressive defender in the class and shines as both a rim-protector and defender both on and off the ball. He changes almost every shot he is in position to contest and can massively impact games without scoring, though he does plenty of that as well.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE BLUE DEVILS
Duke missed on five-star center Flory Bidunga in a hyper-contested recruiting battle, when Bidunga chose Kansas on Aug. 12. There’s no better way to ease that pain, however, than landing the most touted prospect in all of high school hoops. Flagg gives Duke a truly marquee name in its 2024 class, as the surefire one-and-done forward joins fellow five-star Kon Knueppel, Peach Jam MVP Darren Harris and four-star wing Isaiah Evans on the Blue Devils’ commitment list. Duke head coach Jon Scheyer says he intends to recruit fewer high school prospects in the transfer portal era, but such a strategy works best if you land the top-flight targets you decide to aggressively pursue. So far, so good on that front.