Duke freshman Cooper Flagg stars once more in his possible farewell at Cameron Indoor Stadium

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DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Duke was minutes away from completing a perfect record on its famed home court with a Senior Night rout of Wake Forest.

That’s when the buzzer sounded for freshman phenom Cooper Flagg, who checked out — possibly for the final time at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“One more year! One more year!” Duke’s “Cameron Crazies” chanted toward their star rookie, who delivered his latest stellar performance during Monday’s 93-60 win over the Demon Deacons.

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Did he hear the chants?

“For sure,” he said.

And?

“I mean, I’m living in the present right now, living in the moment, taking it day by day. … I don’t know what the future holds.”

The player who has long been mentioned as a likely No. 1 overall NBA draft pick isn’t ready to talk about his future plans just yet. But that left room to consider the season-long journey for the 6-foot-9 prodigy, who arrived as a 17-year-old facing impossibly high expectations and now is the tested — by college standards, anyway — veteran at the heart of Duke’s title aspirations in March.

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He finished with 28 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and two steals against Wake Forest. That included 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting after halftime as Duke turned a 13-point halftime edge into a 40-point bulge on the way to clinching at least a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title.

Along the way, there were the highlights that he’s made look routine with his versatile game, from his passing ability to his reliable 3-point shot. And he’s proven dangerous in transition, like when he pushed the ball up the court, used a crossover to get inside of Wake Forest’s Cam Hildreth in the paint and then took off for a two-handed dunk — punctuated by a flex for the roaring crowd.

When the time came for him to check out with 3:34 left, he slapped hands with teammates Sion James and Isaiah Evans, then started untucking his jersey as he made his way to the Duke bench. He greeted coach…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/duke-freshman-cooper-flagg-stars-052157655.html

Author : Associated Press

Publish date : 2025-03-04 05:21:00

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