DURHAM, N.C. — Twenty minutes have been only a style.
Or actually, a tease.
Solely a lot will 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 which means.
Particularly within the case of this projected top-five preseason crew — with the nation’s high freshman in Cooper Flagg and a bevy of different NBA hopefuls — it is a glimpse. A snapshot of what’s attainable. So if you see junior guard Tyrese Proctor on the quick break, with Flagg — the anticipated No. 1 choose 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 …
Nicely, you begin imagining the probabilities. Concerning the high-flying acrobatics about to unfold, sure, but additionally past. Your thoughts skips ahead, to the types of spectacular performs and video games this crew could have in retailer if it might ship on even a fraction of the still-growing hype surrounding it.
The second, a minimum of, delivered: Flagg effortlessly elevated off the Cameron Indoor court docket, 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 may’t actually describe it, the sensation if you’re on the market enjoying,” Flagg mentioned. “That kind of stuff is one thing you may’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 bit of hesitant, and simply getting a really feel for issues,” coach Jon Scheyer mentioned. “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 exterior 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 would hear one Cameron Crazie word the event:
These have been Cooper Flagg’s first factors at Duke.
The novelty round Flagg, particularly early on — and particularly if he’s nearly as good as anticipated, anyplace close to the Zion Williamson stratosphere that nobody in school hoops has occupied since — can be a factor. His first dunk. First choose six. First 20-point sport, first double-double. All of it. It will likely be famous, diligently, the persevering with ascent of somebody already deemed “generational” by the lots 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, in fact, can’t take a look at this season that method. Neither can his teammates, lots 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 realized something from its star-studded 2018-19 season with Williamson, it’s the way to deal with the spectacle that follows a phenomenon.
“You’ve simply gotta keep current,” Proctor mentioned. “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 feel 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 type of is aware of that.”
However saying so in entrance of your property followers, on an evening that’s extra ceremonial than severe, is one factor — and sustaining that after a troublesome early-season stretch is one other totally. Within the first month of the season, Duke performs (deep breath) Kentucky within the Champions Basic 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 high 10 preseason groups, one after one other after one other. We’ll have a very good sense by Flagg’s birthday of the sort of expertise he’s, what sort of crew Duke is — and the way honest 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 subsequent 5 — perhaps 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 favored seeing him in a Duke uniform tonight,” Scheyer mentioned. “I do know that a lot.”
(Picture: Grant Halverson / Getty Photographs)
