Cooper Flagg is a projected no. 1 NBA draft for 2025 but he is not Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, or Anthony according to Wisconsin Badgers basketball legend Sam Dekker.
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Flagg, whose school Duke Blue Devils are set for a semifinals game against the Houston Cougars in the semifinals of the 2025 NCAA March Madness, has been receiving hype since high school years.
He made his college debut this 2024-2025 season and lived up to that hype as he is achieving accolades left and right.
He currently has eight individual awards as a college basketball player, led by the Oscar Robertson Trophy, the Consensus first-team All-American, and the ACC Player of the Year.
His glory is that of Duke, too, as his great play contributes to team wins. The Blue Devils finished first in the Atlantic Coast Conference standing and wrapped up their successful season by winning the ACC tournament, their second in three years.
Flagg was the leader through it all with his great game on both ends of the floor. He is currently averaging 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists on 48.3 percent field goal shooting.
Does this make him the best one and done college player in history?
Sam Dekker has three names above Cooper Flagg
It might be too early to say that Flagg is that guy? Maybe if he wins the championship.
However, even if he does so, his CV might not match what the three other players did, at least as suggested by Sam Dekker.
“People just forgot what Kevin Durant did at Texas. Or Anthony Davis at Kentucky. Or Carmelo Anthony at Syracuse,” he wrote on X while quoting another user’s claim about Flagg.
People just forgot what Kevin Durant did at Texas. Or Anthony Davis at Kentucky. Or Carmelo Anthony at Syracuse. https://t.co/flmuDesn99
— Sam Dekker (@dekker) March 30, 2025
Dekker, who led the Badgers to a finals appearance in 2015, may be on to something here.
KD played one season for the Texas Longhorns and became the scoring champion at that time with 25.8 points per game. He also led the Big 12 in both scoring and rebounding at that time. He, however, did not win the NCAA title as his team was booted out in the second round.
As for AD and Melo, they both got the biggest edge over Flagg – the national title. Davis won it with the Kentucky Wildcats in 2012.
Melo won the tourney in 2003 with Syracuse Orange and some argue that his path to the title was the hardest because of the strength of their roster.
He said back then that he planned to stay up to three years in college but he won the title in his first year and so, he turned pro.
Where does Flagg rank between these four?
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