At 17 years old, the Duke basketball phenom is undoubtedly an exemplary leader on and off the court.
Rather than zoom in on Isaiah Evans’ instantly endearing celebrations following his six 3-point splashes in the first half of the statement-made Duke basketball squad’s 84-78 home win over No. 2-ranked Auburn on Wednesday night, Duke Blue Devils On SI focused on long-cemented centerpiece freshman Cooper Flagg’s reactions to his fellow 2024 McDonald’s All-American’s breakout show.
When it comes to embracing the unavoidable centerpiece duty of binding Blue Devils together with sights fixed on the ultimate prize, perhaps that’s where the 17-year-old is most beyond his years. In fact, one could argue that not even his piece-of-cake 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, three steals, two blocks, zero turnovers, and only two fouls in the win stack up to the manner in which he talked about Evans’ night with absolute sincerity in the locker room:
“I mean, that’s something you don’t see every day — for real,” Flagg affirmed to Duke Blue Devils On SI while most media members initially hovered around Evans, who now-famously arrived on the scene for the Blue Devils after not logging a single minute of action across Duke’s 1-2 effort in its previous top-25 clashes against Kansas, Kentucky, and Arizona.
“A guy like Isaiah, who had an incredible high school career, to come in and not start how he would’ve hoped here, but just to stay ready and just work every single day, I mean, he’s been one of the hardest workers on the team, for sure. For him to just stay ready and be ready for that moment, it takes a lot. So, just really proud of him, and I knew he had it in him.”
Cooper Flagg seems to have it in himself to be a captain, as third-year Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer still hasn’t confirmed any players in that leadership role for the 2024-25 Blue Devils.
Entrusting Flagg with that distinction would be unprecedented for a freshman in Durham. But so is everything else about him.
