Duke Basketball: Could UConn and Kansas be better destinations for Cooper Flagg?

For a while, there hasn’t been a lot of talk regarding the 2024 recruiting class. And it’s partially due to a lack of starpower at the view top of the class. But that changed, as Cooper Flagg made the decision to reclassify from the 2025 group. He’s viewed as not only the top prospect in the 2024 class but also among all players in high school.

Flagg, a 6’9 true power forward who’s an elite two-way prospect, has been linked to Duke Basketball for a while. Reportedly, they’re his “dream school” of sorts, which in fairness, are many top recruits out of high school. But Flagg has backed up that claim by taking a visit to the school just a couple of weeks ago.

The Blue Devils are one of around a dozen programs that have offered Flagg and been in contact with him. But without an actual list of contenders from the five-star forward himself, it’s hard to know which programs are truly in the mix.

But now we have an idea, as Flagg is reportedly set to make three more official visits. Duke Basketball getting one isn’t a surprise at all but they now know its two main competitors, Kansas and UConn. They’re the two most recent national champions and can offer a lot to the five-star prospect.

From a neutral standpoint, could the Blue Devils actually not be the best landing spot? Here’s a look at the pros and cons of the three key options for Flagg to consider.

Duke Blue Devils

Pros

Whether Coach K is around or Jon Scheyer leading the way, Duke Basketball is one of, if not the most famous program in all of college hoops. And the team has major aspirations for next season, likely a preseason top-3 team that could win the 2024 national title. It’s thanks to the return of leading scorer and big man Kyle Filipowski, who’ll likely go pro after next year.

Several others will likely be gone for Duke, allowing Flagg to come in and be the focal point of the offense. And that’s not always a given since the program always brings in other five-star talents. Assuming it’s his one and only year in college basketball, it’s hard to see why Flagg wouldn’t want to play for them.

Cons

That being said, there’s always a chance that someone emerges from the roster to take some shine from Flagg’s hands. It could possibly be Isaiah Evans, a five-star and top-10 overall small forward commit in the 2024 class. Kansas and UConn also can land five-star talent but not at the level of Duke.

And if we’re comparing the head coaches of the three teams involved, Coach Scheyer is last. Obviously, the other two winning national titles make this a bit of an unfair situation next to someone entering his second full year as a D-I head coach. But that’s the reality for Flagg to consider that the Blue Devils have the one unproven HC among the group.

Kansas Jayhawks

Pros

Looking at each of the rosters, there’s just no true weakness regarding the Jayhawks. After the recent national retirements, it’s hard not to have Bill Self as the best head coach in the sport. And the program remains in the top tier, coming off an impressive offseason transfer portal class, including landing Hunter Dickinson.

Flagg could go to Kansas and easily be the focal point of the offense and play with one of the best point guards in the country in Dajuan Harris Jr., who doesn’t even need to score in order to be effective. The Jayhawks recently landed five-star center prospect Flory Bidunga, who Duke was reportedly after. Could they get another steal by taking Flagg?

Cons

Coach Self made news by missing the first week in the past NCAA Tournament due to health issues and the team couldn’t withstand it, suffering a Round of 32 upset to Arkansas. The coach is back for another year and hopefully, the health issues won’t resurface. However, if they do again, it could push him even closer to retirement as soon as next offseason.

From a roster standpoint, it’s likely that Dickinson is a one-year rental since Bidunga committed to the program. But projected starting forward KJ Adams, a quality player in his own right, isn’t a clear pro prospect right now. So if Flagg commits to Kansas, does that potentially push him into the transfer portal?

UConn Huskies

Pros

The one small selling point is that the native from Maine would be able to play as close to home as possible while still playing for a national contending program. And while the Huskies may not pass the “blue blood” test, they’re definitely one of the biggest names now, coming off winning the national title.

And the roster looks to be built to contend for a while going forward. Donovan Clingan, who was the backup to Adama Sanogo last season, could be even better and is a projected lottery pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Five-star guard Stephon Castle is a possible “one and done”. while the team already has a couple of top-100 commits in the 2024 class too.

Cons

From a roster standpoint, there is the question of what will UConn do with Alex Karaban. The forward flew under the radar as a freshman last season but was still highly impressive overall, shooting over 40% from deep. They could play him and Flagg together assuming Clingan does go pro but that would mean this five-star prospect would play more minutes at the five-spot instead of at the four.

And compared to Kansas and Duke Basketball, isn’t UConn just a really good second option? The program doesn’t have the same prestige as the Blue Devils and while he now has a national title on his resume, no one would have Dan Hurley ahead of Coach Self in coaching rankings. Unless playing close to home matters a lot, this could come down to Kansas vs Duke once again.

Should the Blue Devils be the heavy favorite in this recruitment?