Basketball
Fear not Duke fans, the Blue Devils will not be without freshman phenom Cooper Flagg as they make a run at the national championship.
NCAA senior vice president of men’s basketball Dan Gavitt announced the school expects Flagg to be available for the start of the NCAA Tournament on March 20.
“What we understand from communication with Duke and the ACC is that Cooper Flagg will be available for the NCAA tournament.”
NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt provides an update on the @DukeMBB star, who is expected to recover from his ankle injury in time for… pic.twitter.com/MGgg8YTuA1
— CBS Sports College Basketball (@CBSSportsCBB) March 15, 2025
“What we understand from communication with Duke and the ACC is that Cooper Flagg will be available for the NCAA tournament,” Gavitt told CBS Sports’ Seth Davis in an on-air interview on Saturday.
Flagg, 18, suffered a sprained ankle during the first half of Duke’s ACC Tournament quarterfinal win over Georgia Tech on Thursday.
Head coach Jon Scheyer immediately ruled his 6-foot-9 star player out for the remainder of the tournament as a precaution. Duke is scheduled to play Louisville on Saturday night in the conference title game.
“As far as [Flagg] goes, he’s doing better,” Scheyer told reporters Friday (h/t ESPN). “Sprained ankle. All the imaging came back negative. He sprained it pretty good, though… He can’t play… we need to see how this weekend goes with the swelling and what he can do.”
Flagg is expected to be the No. 1 overall selection at the 2025 NBA Draft, so updates on his health, naturally, are going to be highly scrutinized.
He’s established an impressive legacy for himself in the sport less than a year into his collegiate career.
Flagg broke the ACC’s freshman game scoring record (42 points) and is the favorite to win the John Wooden Award, given to the sport’s most outstanding player. He’s also the first ACC player in the past 25 years to record at least 500 points, 100 assists and 30 blocks in a season.
Averaging 18.9 points per game (48.8 field goal percentage), 7.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game, Flagg is an indispensable asset in Duke’s offense.
The team certainly felt his absence on Friday, nearly blowing a double-digit lead to in-state rival North Carolina in the final seconds of the ACC semifinal. Only a crucial mistake by the Tar Heels allowed Duke to escape with the win.
Regardless of Saturday’s result, the Blue Devils are expected to be a top seed in March Madness once the tournament bracket is revealed on Selection Sunday.
With Flagg in Scheyer’s lineup, it’s going to be real hard for any opponent to prevent Duke from making its 18th appearance in the Final Four.
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