By ADAM ZAGORIA
Duke freshman Cooper Flagg won’t be on campus for long, but he’s making the most of his time in Durham.
The 6-foot-9 presumed No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft threw down what may turn out to be the dunk of the year Tuesday night when he jammed in transition on a helpless Guillermo Diaz Graham in No. 4 Duke’s 76-47 rout at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“Look, it reminded me of a Zion [Williamson] kind of play, that’s what it reminded me of, because of the way it sparked Cameron,” head coach Jon Scheyer said.
Appropriately, the top three plays on SportsCenter Wednesday were dunks by Zion, LeBron and Flagg.
“Cooper does special stuff all the time, we’ve come to expect it,” Duke’s Sion James , who put his hands on his head after the dunk, told reporters. “But that showed us that he can still surprise us. There’s still more than he can do. That was unreal.”
This Cooper Flagg dunk is gonna be in every young Yankees fan’s bedroom pic.twitter.com/PWKR7crvTZ
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) January 8, 2025
Flagg posted a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, and then deflected talk about the dunk to his teammates.
Asked if it was that was the most impactful moment this season at Cameron, Flagg said, “I would say, that’s up there for sure. The Auburn game when Isaiah [Evans] kind of caught fire in the first half and hit four straight [3’s], it was pretty loud at that time, too.”
I asked Cooper Flagg about the Cameron Crazies' reaction to his poster dunk. Once again, he showed his selflessness by talking about Isaiah Evans' hot shooting against Auburn: pic.twitter.com/7zLmQgGQu3
— Matt Giles (@MattGilesBD) January 8, 2025
Duke improved to 13-2, 5-0 in the ACC and has won its five league games by an average of 23.2 points.
Flagg was also named Tuesday to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 list. He and Auburn’s Johni Broome are the favorites for that and various other National Player of the Year awards.
The Newport, Maine native is widely projected to go No. 1 in this year’s NBA Draft where Washington, New Orleans and Toronto each currently hold a 14% chance at the top pick, per Tankathon.com.
**For more on Cooper, read my exclusive on NJ.com.
Photo via: Duke Basketball
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