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ESPN Makes Cooper Flagg Prediction After Freshman Season at Duke

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Rodney Knuppel | Last updated Apr 24, 2025 10:29 AM ET

Heading into the 2024-25 college basketball season, the biggest name was Cooper Flagg. Now that the season has ended, the biggest name is still Flagg.

Flagg was exceptional all year for Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devils. Duke captured both the ACC regular season and conference tournament titles. They then advanced to the NCAA Tournament Final Four.

Now, Flagg, along with several of his Duke teammates, will head to the NBA. With June 25 drawing closer each day, reports continue to surface that he is the likely top prize.

Jonathan Givony of ESPN posted Thursday morning: "updated ESPN top 100 rankings for the NBA draft: Who's rising and falling?"

Updated ESPN top 100 rankings for the NBA draft: Who's rising and falling?

STORY: https://t.co/ZKqdFG3HIT pic.twitter.com/Rl0Apuy5xn
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) April 24, 2025

Following his time at Montverde Academy, Flagg was named the National High School Player of the Year.

Additional accolades soon followed, including McDonald's All-American honors, the Gatorade National Men's Athlete of the Year award and USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year.

His time at Duke was nothing short of spectacular. The 6-foot-9 forward finished the season averaging 19.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Flagg scored 27 points in the 70-67 loss to Houston that ended Duke's season.

During the NCAA Tournament, he elevated his game, averaging 21 points per contest. His standout performance of the tournament came on March 27, when he erupted for 30 points against Arizona.

Flagg is currently projected just ahead of Dylan Harper, who also played only one season of college basketball. Harper averaged 19.4 points over 29 games at Rutgers. His season ended in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, where the Scarlet Knights fell to USC 97–89 in double overtime.

Ace Bailey, another standout from Rutgers, is third in the latest projections. The 6-foot-10 guard also played one season and averaged 17.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

Rounding out the top five are VJ Edgecombe of Baylor and Jeremiah Fears of Oklahoma.

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

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