The hype around Duke's Cooper Flagg shows no signs of stopping

Duke's star freshman Cooper Flagg has been the consensus top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft since before the season started.

Duke's star freshman Cooper Flagg has been the consensus top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft since before the season started. During the NCAA men’s basketball tournament this month, the 6-foot-9 wing from Maine has done nothing to tamp down the sky-high expectations.

In the NBA, “he may be your third-best scorer, yet your most valuable player in the sense of everything he does,” said a college scout for an NBA team, who asked not to be identified because his team, like every other in the league, does not allow scouts to comment publicly on prospects. 

After scoring 14 points in Duke’s opening victory of the tournament, and 18 in the second round, Flagg produced such a bravura 30-point performance Thursday in Newark, New Jersey, that it pushed the top-seeded Blue Devils past Arizona and left his coach talking in superlatives.

Flagg appeared comfortably in command during the high-stakes, single-elimination tournament while adding a season-high seven assists, plus six rebounds and three blocks.

Cooper Flagg reacts after scoring a 3-pointer to end the first half Thursday.Patrick Smith / Getty Images“That was one of the best tournament performances I’ve ever coached or been a part of,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer, who notably played on a Blue Devils team in 2010 that won the NCAA championship, said during his postgame news conference.

https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/ncaa/duke-cooper-flagg-rcna198526

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