Cooper Flagg’s Saturday at the Final Four began with the Duke superstar becoming the fourth freshman in college basketball history to win the Wooden Award, and it ended with him coming up two points and about two inches short of cementing his legacy as the greatest freshman in college basketball history.
Flagg finished with 27 points, seven rebounds, and four assists, but missed a potential game-winning mid-range jump shot with eight seconds remaining in the Blue Devils' shocking 70-67 loss to Houston. The Cougars outscored Duke 11-1 over the final 1:14 seconds as Flagg and his teammates managed just two made field goals over the final 13 minutes of the second half.
Duke’s freshman phenom was outstanding on Saturday night in San Antonio, at times the future No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s NBA Draft was bordering on unbelievable. However, ultimately the hardest thing to fathom is how Flagg and head coach Jon Scheyer collapsed down the stretch.
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In many ways, the result can’t be pinned on Flagg. The Blue Devils’ final field goal of the game came courtesy of their best player with 3:04 remaining as Flagg extended the Duke lead to nine points at 64-55. In other ways, ways that will be the lasting memory of this monumental Final Four meltdown, Flagg will bear the outcome of this game most.
He missed the final shot, and seconds prior was called for a questionable foul that gave J’Wan Roberts two free throws to put Houston ahead. Flagg was the best player in the country this season, and the best freshman I’ve ever watched in college basketball, but the greats have a knack for grabbing ahold of the game just as it’s slipping away. Duke had this game won, multiple times, and it left the door open, fair or unfair, that will be a massive knock against Flagg’s legacy.
With his fantastic one-and-done season, Flagg has surpassed Zion Williamson in many minds as the greatest Duke freshman of all time. The only player potentially standing in the way of his claim as the greatest freshman for any program is Anthony Davis. Davis capped off his memorable 2012 season with a Wooden Award and a National Championship, and now, for those who value a title above everything else, Cooper Flagg can never match AD.
Especially in a single-elimination tournament like March Madness, a lack of championships should never be held against a single player when determining their legacy. So much more goes into the situation, and in this case Flagg scored 11 of Duke's final 15 points and had one of the most egregiously bad foul calls in recent memory goes against him in a massive spot. Yet, his legacy will be the one under interrogation, not Tyrese Proctor's or Sion James's or even Kon Knueppel's. Flagg will ultimately bear the brunt of this with his missed game-winning lingering with fans and media as he transitions to the NBA.