Cooper Flagg lived up to the hype. That might be an understatement for the best Freshman to play college hoops since another Duke legend, Zion Williamson. Flagg is just the fourth Freshman ever to win the Wooden award and joins a list of NBA All-Stars that have done it. Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, and Zion Williamson are the only other Freshman to ever do it.
The soon to be #1 overall pick led the Blue Devils in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. The only problem is that Flagg did not finish the job and win the NCAA Tournament like Anthony Davis did in 2011 and Carmelo Anthony did in 2003. His team finished with a 35-4 overall record and will go down as one of the best teams of all time to never win the title. A Freshman leading his University to the Final 4 is a great accomplishment, but not winning the big one will be a debate for years to come.
It will be impossible to rank Cooper Flagg over Carmelo Anthony and Anthony Davis in my all-time Freshman ranking, simply due to the result of the NCAA Tournament. Both Anthony Davis and Carmelo Anthony were All-Americans that led their team to a championship as a Freshman. It will not surprise me one bit if Flagg has an NBA career like those two players though.
Flagg will go down as one of the best Freshman to ever play college basketball. He brought the excitement back to fans for an American born NBA prospect, after two straight years of foreign #1 overall picks.
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