Duke’s national championship hopes flashed before its eyes in Charlotte when freshman phenom and ACC Player of the Year Cooper Flagg went down with an ankle injury during the Blue Devil’s quarterfinal win over Georgia Tech. Flagg never returned to the tournament as Duke ousted North Carolina and Louisville for the title, but now he’s officially set to return to the court in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Coop update --> active tomorrow vs. Mount St. Mary's
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) March 20, 2025
🕺🕺🕺🕺👿 @Cooper_Flagg pic.twitter.com/V5fDURoYPF
Despite finishing as the No. 1 team in the AP Poll, the Blue Devils did not earn the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Instead, that distinction went to the Auburn Tigers. Yet, Duke is still the betting favorite and the overwhelming pick to win the championship in fan brackets. Flagg’s health plays a huge role in Duke’s March Madness hopes, but the Blue Devils have plenty of other talent on the roster.
Jon Scheyer did an excellent job assembling the roster for his third year as the head coach of the Blue Devils. Along with Flagg, he added Kon Knueppel, the ACC Tournament MVP, Khaman Maluach, one of the country’s elite rim protectors, and microwave scorer Isaiah Evans in the 2024 recruiting class. Scheyer also went to the transfer portal for Mason Gillis, a member of Purdue’s Final Four team a year ago, and Sion James who quickly became Duke’s starting point guard.
That group was good enough to win an underwhelming ACC, but the reality for Scheyer is that his team will go as far as Flagg can take it. Flagg was a unanimous First-Team All-American and spent the entire season in a two-man race with Auburn’s Johni Broome for the Wooden Award as the National Player of the Year.
Duke begins its tournament run on Friday afternoon in Raliegh against Wednesday night first-four winner Mount Saint Mary’s.