The journey of Cooper Flagg has been brilliant so far, even to the point of catching the eye of the superstars of Team USA this summer. It was therefore quite natural that he turned to Duke to continue his learning with the aim of joining the NBA in a year. On campus, he will now have to manage his new popularity and the enthusiasm that is growing around him, as “media day” was able to confirm.
We haven't seen that since Zion Williamsonand as for Jon Scheyer, who was an assistant to Mike Krzyzewski at the time, it's also a big new thing to manage. Fortunately, the Duke coach for two years came across a real nugget.
“With Cooper, I don't know if we've ever had a 17-year-old with so much attention around him, and a lot of it rightly so.”, slipped the Duke coach. “You have to see the career he had in high school and what he did. But we talk about everything we can control and that's what we focused on. Cooper does an outstanding job coming to practice and working every day. I don't think he likes the attention on him, to be honest. I think he wants to be like the others, that is, he doesn't care about attention, but he wants to win, he wants to be competitive. And he succeeded very well in setting the tone.”
Only think about basketball
In front of the media, the future phenomenon of American basketball for his part delivered his solution for managing his new life: favoring his relationship with basketball to shield himself from the future demands that will rain down.
“I think that in terms of the hype and everything that comes with it, it's something that you learn to manage. For me, it's just about playing basketball.”he replied. “So I’m excited to move forward with our team.” We have an incredible group of guys. I still need to get to know the team a lot better. As for the “hype”, I am simply focused on basketball and winning it every day (…). It goes back a bit to how I was raised. My parents instilled that in me, just trying to play hard every possession, and always giving 100%, really. I think it really comes down to how much I love playing basketball, how much I want to win. It’s all about having fun.”
This is also what emerges from Jon Scheyer's analysis of what little he has seen since Cooper Flagg arrived on campus, a determined game man, who is hungry to play and win.
“We see a guy who does not lack consistency in his competitive aspect. What stands out for us is seeing how hard he works. Every day he was there. He fought as hard as he could. For me, when we display the qualities of each person on a field, we have to see how much they give their all”continued the Duke coach.
The road plan for year I
While waiting for November 4, the date of the resumption of the NCAA for Duke, the technician Scheyer also has a precise idea of how to use Cooper Flagg, namely not only on outside shooting, but also on creation for example .
“I think the area where he's more advanced than I thought is shooting. He's a good shooter. You know, he can do a lot of other things. But I think the best players we've had here are also good at creating and can create their own shot. They're not always there to shoot. He still needs to work on this, but I was very impressed with his shots. He’s a consistent shooter.”
So much praise which will paradoxically contribute to increasing the enthusiasm around this player while waiting for his first steps in the NCAA, and not only on the Duke campus, but throughout the world!
