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San Antonio – Cooper Flagg And his Duke’s teammates were gone away from calm on the spot in Final Four and Freshman Star Blue Devils planned ahead.
But it was nothing on the pitch. It was supposed to be prepared next time your teammates Khaman Maluach and Patrick ngongba Water weapons broke out on cold baths.
“I’ll definitely order,” Flagg said with a smile, nodding at the fact that he was still “just a child”.
Maybe yes, but the 18 -year -old game was much more advanced than his age since the opening tip of his debut at university. Scoring. Betting. Setting teammates as a player and then helps them as a defender. He did it all in the middle of high expectations as a potential view of NBA No. 1, the driving force with a tireless competitive edge and a mature focus for the team now two winnings from the National Championship.
That is why Flagg was appointed basketball player of the year Associated Associated Press Basketball Basketball Basketball and became only a newcomer who won the 64 -year history.
6-naha-9, 205-libra forward from Newport, Maine, won the race with two men with Auburn Star John Broome. Both players were the unanimous first AP All-Americans team with teams at Final Four and were the only two to win the votes of the player, with Flagg gained 42 out of 61.
Flagg join Duke’s Sion Williamson (2019)Kentucky Anthony Davis (2012) and Texas Star Kevin durant (2007) as winners of freshmen. Each of them went either No. 1 or No. 2 in the NBA proposal a few months later. Flagg is the eighth Duke player who won the prize, most of the program.
“He plays so hard, is a competitive, great teammate,” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer after the home final of Blue Devils, “and his ability is of course strange.”
Flagg was only 17 when he arrived at the Duke after reclassifying to graduate early in high school. Nevertheless, he exceeded all the hype, because the highest recruit of the nation, head of the Duke in scoring (18.9 points per game), bounce (7.5), assistance (4.2) and theft (1.4), while second in Blocks (1.3) enters Saturday’s national semifinals against Houston.
“I stick to a high standard, high expectations,” Flagg and AP said. “Just because I know how much work I gave and how many hours I spent grinding and introducing this work. … they are expectations that you just trust what you do, and only does it at the highest level.”
And he did it repeatedly.
He scored ACC Freshman-Record 42 points against Notre Dame. Against Pittsburgh was his transition to the transition of the increase. A big game that helps Blue Devils to beat Broome’s tigers, along with the NCAA Sweet 16 win against Arizona for 30 points that Scheyer called “one of the best tournament performances I’ve ever trained or was part”.
The cohesive game is a characteristic feature of this Blue Devils team, the only one who placed in the first five Kenpom for modified offensive and defensive efficiency.
He offered ways to improve Flagg in his first and perhaps lonely college when he learned the “level of details” needed for prosperity. It was ensured to get on records for recovery before work. Or listen to the transfer of postgraduate studies Mason Gillis and junior Tyrese Proctor He moved the importance of sleep and called on Flagg to Nix in high school to immerse the phone at night.
“As far as external expectations are concerned, I couldn’t really care less,” Flagg said. “For me, it is more about following the expectations of my teammates, my coaches, my family.
“But that’s what great teammates and great coaches have for you. They just always have their backs and are always for me.”
His mother, Kelly, almost depends on how her son can do it.
“I think he sees it, but he really won’t let him bother,” she said. “And I wish I was more like that. He’s so comfortable with who he is and it has always been that. That’s why he doesn’t disappear easily because he believes in himself and doesn’t care about what others think.
“This is a strange ability to be able to drown noise when noise can sometimes be stunning to someone like him. I’m really proud of him that he did it.”
She and her husband Ralph carefully watched their son, moved to North Carolina this year, while Ace, Cooper’s Twin Brother, will complete the last season of basketball at high school in Greensboro, an hour away. Cooper said it helped to close the family, including when he visited several days around Christmas and got in the gym with his father and brothers for several days.
“If you can retreat and just take a break, it can be really good to just clarify your mind and a little focus,” he said.
This appeared in the court, especially when it increased its scoring (20.1 points, compared to 16.9), assistance (4.5, out of 3.7), the percentage of shooting (51%, 43.8%) and a 3-point percentage (43.4%, from 27.1%) after 1 January.
In fact, Cooper Flagg seems to be involved in great moments as the bets are rising, something his mother saw to return to her childhood. From the beginning, his hatred was a loss, such as the desired gaming after losing a horse with Kelly Flagg – who played at a college in Maine – or a board game like Trouble.
He always wanted to be the first to do anything, even though it seemed a little like a family working with the oldest brother Hunter to ride a bike without training Kol-Jen to announce then, “I can, Mom” and backup.
When he came to basketball, he tested the nerves of his parents constantly dribbing on hardwood floors at home. However, the success also came quickly, with the whisper soon spreading over Maine that the miraculous plays several levels.
“If he was younger if someone stole the ball or turned or got or did something (wrong), we would say it was a 50-50 shot, whether he was going to pick up a crazy foul, or he would do something spectacular,” Kelly Flagg said. “And as it ages, it was more of a chance of something really good.”
Cooper Flagg noted how much he enjoyed Duke. He spoke of establishing and adapting to other students he called “Elite in his own respects”.
This offered relief from the reflector, although it appeared in ads and commercials as a leading star for university basketball with players who have now allowed to benefit from their athletic glory. He got used to requests for autographs and selfies, shrugged and said, “They could have worse problems.”
Flagg avoided the expected NBA jump after the season. For the time being, there are more urgent things that you can deal with, from the final four to the order of this water gun.
“I have to,” Flagg insisted. “What am I going to do? I’ll be unarmed?”
