With Cooper Flagg ’100% and all good,’ No. 1 Duke basketball looks to keep rolling

On what turned out to be a stress-free Friday for the No. 1 Duke Blue Devils, a moment of angst did arrive 98 seconds into their first NCAA Tournament game.

Cooper Flagg, their freshman star who returned to the starting lineup, cut through the lane and scored while drawing a foul that sent him tumbling to the Lenovo Center court.

Given that Flagg had missed Duke’s two previous games recovering from a sprained left ankle, his well-being would be a concern…until it wasn’t.

With his back on the court after that foul 18:22 into the game, Flagg sat up slightly and gave a slight flex to his teammates.

All was well.

After that, Flagg scored 14 points while grabbing seven rebounds and collecting four assists as the top-seeded Blue Devils hammered No. 16 seed Mount St. Mary’s, 93-49, in an NCAA Tournament first-round game.

“He wouldn’t have played if his ankle wasn’t good,” said Duke junior guard Tyrese Proctor, who scored a team-high 19 points and assisted on that telling play to Flagg. “The medical staff was really good, and they had a whole plan as soon as he got hurt. He’s 100% and all good.”

That, along with the win, is the best news for Duke coming out of the first round. The Blue Devils looked like a national championship contender, especially now that their best player is back in the lineup.

“I think what I would say is,” Flagg said, “I’ve done a great job with the medical staff preparing and just being ready. So I already felt completely 100% and confident going into tonight’s game.”

From March 13 — when Flagg jumped to get a rebound only to have his left foot land on a Georgia Tech player’s foot and awkwardly bend his ankle — to Friday, Duke’s fans went through a wave of emotions.

First was the initial concern that Flagg had broken his ankle and what looked like a great opportunity for Duke to win another NCAA championship would go for naught.

Then came the next two days when Flagg walked around, without a protective boot or brace, but didn’t play while the Blue Devils beat North Carolina and Louisville to win the ACC championship.

X-rays and MRI exams had already removed the major worry that Flagg had suffered a serious injury. Still, until he practiced and played, worries lingered.

From Sunday to Tuesday, after the Blue Devils returned to campus from Charlotte, Flagg went through a calculated plan with the medical staff to get him ready to play when Duke’s NCAA Tournament run began.

“Our guys did a great job,” Scheyer said Friday. “Even as he was coming back with his ankle, he was in the pool a lot, underwater treadmill, just making sure his shape was still there. Frankly, it’s only been eight days. So I think for him it’s not like he’s lost a ton of shape.”

The big step came Wednesday when Flagg was cleared to practice full speed, through a full-contact practice, and everything went well. Kon Knueppel, the Duke freshman forward who won the ACC Tournament most valuable player award while Flagg was out, saw something a couple of days earlier when Flagg was on the court with associate head coach Chris Carrawell.

“A couple of days before he was working out with C-Well and I thought, yeah he’ll be alright for this weekend,” Knueppel said.

Scheyer played Flagg 22 minutes against Mount St. Mary’s. He would have been fine playing him more but it all worked out because Duke had such a large lead.

“The biggest thing for me was him not pacing,” Scheyer said. “I didn’t want him to pace. Then obviously making sure he was moving, where he wasn’t off balance or favoring one leg or the other.

“We had already addressed that before this game, so that wasn’t a big concern. I was just making sure he wasn’t pacing. Obviously giving him a few extra minutes, I’m sure that’s going to be helpful for Sunday. As it got down in the second half, my thing was to limit his minutes as much as possible.”

Flagg’s production in those 22 minutes showed his various abilities. In addition to his 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists, he blocked a pair of shots and only committed one turnover.

“Same ol’ Cooper,” Duke graduate student guard Sion James said. “Same ol’ Cooper. He was competitive. He was ready to go.”

With Duke now one game closer to the Final Four and a possible NCAA championship, that made Friday just fine.

This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 5:45 AM with the headline "With Cooper Flagg ’100% and all good,’ No. 1 Duke basketball looks to keep rolling."

Steve Wiseman

The News & Observer

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Steve Wiseman was named Raleigh News & Observer and Durham Herald-Sun sports editor in May 2025. He covered Duke athletics, beginning in 2010, prior to his current assignment. In the Associated Press Sports Editors national contest, he placed in the top 10 in beat writing in 2019, 2021 and 2022, breaking news in 2019, event coverage in 2025 and explanatory writing in 2018. Before coming to Durham in 2010, Steve worked for The State (Columbia, SC), Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, S.C.), The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.), Charlotte Observer and Hickory (NC) Daily Record covering beats including the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints, University of South Carolina athletics and the S.C. General Assembly. He’s won numerous state-level press association awards. Steve graduated from Illinois State University in 1989.