ACC Reacts to Major Cooper Flagg News Before NCAA Tournament

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Matt Audilet | Last updated Mar 19, 2025 8:22 PM ET

The No. 1 seed Duke Blue Devils will begin their NCAA Tournament campaign with a Round of 64 matchup on Friday afternoon. The ACC Tournament champions will face off against the winner of Wednesday's First Four, 16-seed matchup between the American Eagles and Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers.

Before Duke's opening game of the NCAA Tournament, superstar freshman Cooper Flagg received some major news.

With an announcement on Wednesday, Flagg was officially recognized as a consensus First Team All-American.

Flagg, the odds favorite to win National Player of the Year, earned 61-of-61 First Team votes. Auburn senior Johni Broome was the only other unanimous selection.

Flagg and Broome are joined by Purdue's Braden Smith, Alabama's Mark Sears and Florida's Walter Clayton Jr. as First Team All-Americans.

The ACC took to social media to react to this exciting news for Flagg.

"First-Team All-American for the Player of the Year candidate," the league wrote on X.

First-Team All-American for the Player of the Year candidate. pic.twitter.com/joTQXKtFOW
— ACC Men's Basketball (@accmbb) March 19, 2025

Flagg is averaging 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks per game in his freshman season with the Blue Devils. The ACC Player of the Year suffered an ankle injury in Duke's ACC Tournament quarterfinal win over Georgia Tech, but he's expected to return for his team's NCAA Tournament run.

"From my perspective, it's full steam ahead," head coach Jon Scheyer said on Selection Sunday. "I want to get Coop back as quickly as I can, and he wants to do the same... Our goal is for Friday. No question about that."

Flagg was the only ACC player to make any All-American team. Louisville's Chucky Heburn and Stanford's Maxime Raynaud earned honorable mentions.

Duke's first-round matchup will tipoff at 2:50 p.m. EST on Friday.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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