DURHAM, N.C. — Twenty minutes have been only a style.
Or actually, a tease.
Solely a lot might be gleaned from these preseason, meet-the-team, intrasquad occasions, like Duke’s Countdown to Craziness on Friday night time. They’re as a lot in regards to the schtick — temper lighting, air cannons, foolish introductory dances — as any precise basketball. And, clearly, they don’t rely.
However they do have that means.
Particularly within the case of this projected top-five preseason crew — with the nation’s prime freshman in Cooper Flagg and a bevy of different NBA hopefuls — this can be a glimpse. A snapshot of what’s potential. So once you see junior guard Tyrese Proctor on the quick break, with Flagg — the anticipated No. 1 decide within the 2025 NBA Draft — sprinting forward of him, and you then see Proctor kick forward an outlet move, and also you see Flagg loading up as he takes off towards the rim …
Effectively, you begin imagining the chances. Concerning the high-flying acrobatics about to unfold, sure, but in addition past. Your thoughts skips ahead, to the types of spectacular performs and video games this crew might have in retailer if it might probably ship on even a fraction of the still-growing hype surrounding it.
The second, no less than, delivered: Flagg effortlessly elevated off the Cameron Indoor courtroom, twisted backward in midair and flushed house a spotlight dunk with a ho-hum angle.
His face appeared to say, extra to come back.
“You possibly can’t actually describe it, the sensation once you’re on the market taking part in,” Flagg stated. “That sort of stuff is one thing you’ll be able to’t actually expertise till it occurs.”
Flagg completed the night time with 13 factors — third-most total, contemplating gamers have been switching groups at halftime — in addition to three rebounds, three assists, and two turnovers. He was … good, if not overly deferential.
“I assumed Cooper tonight was being a little bit hesitant, and simply getting a really feel for issues,” coach Jon Scheyer stated. “That’s the fantastic thing about Coop: He’s such a crew participant, and he has such a fantastic really feel for the sport.”
That a lot was evident, even on his first basket. The 6-foot-9 Maine native drove left from outdoors the arc, then switched the ball to his proper hand in midair, showcasing the contact and inside ending he’s so recognized for. From the primary row of Duke’s pupil part, via the raucous applause, you can hear one Cameron Crazie observe the event:
These have been Cooper Flagg’s first factors at Duke.
The novelty round Flagg, particularly early on — and particularly if he’s pretty much as good as anticipated, anyplace close to the Zion Williamson stratosphere that nobody in faculty hoops has occupied since — might be a factor. His first dunk. First decide six. First 20-point sport, first double-double. All of it. It is going to be famous, diligently, the persevering with ascent of somebody already deemed “generational” by the plenty earlier than his 18th birthday. (That’s Dec. 21, by the best way; Georgia Tech drew the brief stick and hosts the Blue Devils that night time.)
Flagg, after all, can’t have a look at this season that means. Neither can his teammates, a lot of whom — like fellow freshmen Khaman Maluach and Kon Knueppel — will doubtless be following him to the NBA as early as subsequent June. If Duke discovered something from its star-studded 2018-19 season with Williamson, it’s how you can deal with the spectacle that follows a phenomenon.
“You’ve simply gotta keep current,” Proctor stated. “Everybody is aware of who Coop is. Everybody is aware of who Khaman is. Everybody is aware of who all these guys are. So I believe from day one, everybody has been on the identical web page. We haven’t essentially needed to sit down and speak about, ‘It’s going to be we over me.’ Everybody kind of is aware of that.”
However saying so in entrance of your house followers, on an evening that’s extra ceremonial than critical, is one factor — and sustaining that after a tricky early-season stretch is one other fully. Within the first month of the season, Duke performs (deep breath) Kentucky within the Champions Traditional in Atlanta, at Arizona, versus Kansas in Las Vegas, all earlier than internet hosting Auburn within the ACC-SEC Problem in early December. That’s three of The Athletic’s prime 10 preseason groups, one after one other after one other. We’ll have a great sense by Flagg’s birthday of the form of expertise he’s, what sort of crew Duke is — and the way truthful the nationwide title expectations for this squad actually are.
Friday was a style of all that, a 20-minute morsel earlier than the 30-plus video games Duke has coming over the following 5 — possibly six — months.
It’s nothing value overreacting to.
However it’s, if nothing else, value noting. As a result of Friday was Flagg’s, and Duke’s, starting.
“I appreciated seeing him in a Duke uniform tonight,” Scheyer stated. “I do know that a lot.”
(Photograph: Grant Halverson / Getty Photographs)
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