DURHAM, N.C. – One of the challenging aspects of describing what makes Cooper Flagg such an astonishing basketball player is locating the statistic that captures the whole of his value to the Duke Blue Devils. And maybe that’s because the number that works best might be the most boring of all: minutes played.
He was off the floor for just 2 minutes, 27 seconds of Wednesday’s 84-78 victory over No. 2 Auburn. He went 38 minutes in a close loss last week against No. 1 Kansas, and the same in a road win against Arizona. If Duke is in a game, Flagg is in the game.
Because there’s no reason, in a basketball sense, ever to remove him. In a human sense, yeah, everyone could use some rest, but Duke coach Jon Scheyer recognizes Flagg contributes to the Blue Devils in so many areas that whatever might not be working at a particular moment soon could be addressed by him.
That is what defines this phenomenal freshman, as hard as so many try to make it about his age. He will turn 18 a few days before Christmas. When he’s no longer “only 17”, it still will be staggering what a complete package of skills Flagg has constructed for himself.
“It’s his resilience. I mean, every team is scouting for Cooper. They’re trying to change him off his game,” Duke junior guard Tyrese Proctor told The Sporting News. “Everybody thinks he’s just trying to score every time, but he’s such a good facilitator. His rebounding. He’s battling every possession. Just his poise at such a young age is kind of crazy. I’m with him every day and see it all the time.”
After eight games, including four against against high-major powers, Flagg is averaging 16.6 points per game. He twice tumbled to the floor while trying to conjure a game-winning opportunity against those name-brand opponents, first in Duke’s loss to Kentucky and then in falling to Kansas.
After 20 minutes of this one, he was 2-of-8 from the floor and had scored just 6 points.
What’s the big deal, one might ask?
Flagg is either a frustrating player or fascinating one, from that perspective. He demands you examine his game more closely, or at the very least look beyond the scoring column on a basic box score.
“To be able to coach him, he never fights you. In a game you can get on him. In practice, he’s always wanting to get better, and in every aspect of his game,” Scheyer said. “I’ve always felt like Cooper is a one-time guy. He needs to experience something one time to get adjusted.
“Really, in this short of a time frame, whether it’s a month or whatever it is, to see the growth in big-time moments, to create shots against high-level defenders, I thought that was big.”
Check Flagg’s rebounds. At halftime against Auburn, he already had taken 10 balls off the boards, including 8 at the defensive end, leaving the Tigers just three cracks at second-chance points. Flagg obviously has that Paul Silas thing, where he is expert at reading a shot in flight and ascertaining what direction it will fly when it fails to connect. But he also has that Dennis Rodman thing, where he is electric enough to get there as the ball begins its descent.
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And then there are the assists. There were 4 in this game, including one with 1:37 left in the first half that resulted when he stole the ball from Chad Baker-Mazara, drove it into the break and floated it over a defender just beyond midcourt to hit guard Caleb Foster in stride. Foster accepted this perfectly placed pass, gathered himself and fired in a 3-pointer to lift Duke’s lead to 40-36. Duke outscored Auburn by a 16-0 margin in the fastbreak game, and a lot of that grows from Flagg’s ability to rebound the ball and drive the ball into transition.
Blocks are fun, too, and he twice rejected Auburn opponents, smacking down Denver Jones with 13 minutes remaining by using the full full extent of his horizontal reach after leaping in the air to hinder his path.
“I think it came from my parents really just priding that on me of just playing the right way and doing everything I can to help my team win, whether that’s playing defense, rebounding the ball, passing to the open man – whatever it is, just trying to make the right play,” Flagg told TSN.
“I think for me, one of the biggest things was playing above my age really early and just kind of getting those live game reps from a real young age. I remember in second grade playing on a fifth-grade AAU team. I definitely wasn’t ready for it physically, but those type of things just got me so ready for the next level, to keep moving forward and forward. Just facing that physicality – people are going to be physical with me and try to rough me up, so just being ready from a young age of facing that physicality.”
He may be a complete player, but he is not perfect. Flagg has had to learn that ballhandling against a college defense – quicker, bigger, more experienced and better educated opponents – is a greater challenge. In this game, Scheyer acknowledged to TSN, “We put enough on him in the 37 minutes,” and so there was less insistence he generate the attack in the closing stretch.
“I feel like high school to college … there’s always people in the gaps,” Flagg said. “You’ve got to be really efficient with your dribbles, with your move, what you’re doing to try to get to the rim or to your jumpshot. That goes back to the turnovers for me.”
Flagg had zero in this game.
“We didn’t bother him enough,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “And he lived at the foul line. He gets a great whistle – he’s a great player.”
If you prefer to be dazzled by breathtaking point totals, Flagg might thrill you on occasion. He rang up 24 in a comfortable victory over Arizona and 26 in that Kentucky loss. He finished this one with 22 points, driving the total into double digits early in the second half – and Duke’s lead, as well – by attacking the middle for a picturesque fadeaway and then driving right past the Tigers’ Chaney Johnson with 17:30 left.
But he never is going to be Kevin Durant.
It’s like the difference between a great action film like “Die Hard” or a foreign-language classic like Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows”. They’re both thrilling in their own way, but one is going to make you work harder to appreciate the genius.
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