Duke’s Cooper Flagg makes permanent memory in the NBA window in Madison Square Garden

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New York – the moment many of these fans have come – they proudly wear blue -white anyway – they were barely a minute in the second half of the already eroded affair. Traffic to Illinois Guardian point Kasparas JakucionisHighly talented B-strana Saturday exhibition during the time, gave the place Duke star Cooper flagg piercing over the middle part with a narrow body between him and the hoop. Flagg gathered the ball in the right hand of a glove size, then got into the air for a mean straw that was stuck by Madison Square Garden, expanding Blue Devils leadership at 19, before many viewers even returned from the concession.

Cooper Flagg throws a wicked downtown after theft while the Duke runs Illinois, 56-37

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That bucket, which Flagg enhanced with another tall, two -tone moments later, followed by a muscular schedule through contact that gave him the opportunity to flex both biceps in front of Duke’s thickest part of the fans, was exactly what everyone around the program imagined When this game was announced six months ago: the most demanding high school perspective in the years creating a permanent memory in the most famous The world’s arena, breaking its way through a record season while leading ultra-talented blue blood according to what could be the first program of the program from 2015, while for the cementing of its case as an assumed number 1 in the NBA draft.

What both coaches were charged as a match that fits NCAA with the tournament game quickly turned into a unilateral hide that revealed significant differences in the talent between the two teams, with Flagg and his blonde-spare acting setting up to a victory of 110-67 It was competitive after the introductory few minutes. Flagg, who ended up with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists, was one of seven players who scored double digits in the fourth consecutive victory of Blue Devils, and the affiliation of the curse conference. It was the 20th victory of Duke in the last 21 games and a great, national television reminder that Flagg is far from the only elite perspective on the incredibly deep list of chief coach Jon Scheyer, who could be underrated on number 3 in the country and 24-3 overall.

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“Whew, yes,” he said that Illinois chief coach Brad Underwood started his press conference after the game. “The Duke is fine.”

The verist of that statement seemed clear from the moment Scheyer inserted the national recruiting class 1, including several high transfers, was part of the incentives why this event happened at all. The game itself, called “Sentinelone Classic”, was a relatively late addition to this year’s fax basketball calendar, and the formal announcement arrived on August 14, 2024, after blue devils sought a willing dance partner for the increasingly rare, not February, not in February -Conference matching between high -level programs. Until that moment-less than three months before the regular season began and near the conclusion of summer basketball training at colleges-the coach was aware of the NBA-Kalibra talent that adorned their lists, including half-tenth of the potential first-round choice Next summer.

For Scheyer, this meant the opportunity to show the overall recruit of Nation 1 in Flagg, a native of Newport in Maine, which is about seven hours from New York and an amazing talent collection around him. In addition to Flagg, which will almost certainly be the first player selected in this year’s draft, blue devils can also boast of two more likely lottery in the freshman Kon Knueppel (15 points, four jumps) and Khaman Maluach . Sion James (11 points, six assists) and junior Tirean proctor (12 points, four assists). There is a great chance that Duke will produce three top-10 types in the same draft for the first time since 2019-where Zion Williamson went to number 1, RJ Barrett went to number 3, and Cam Reddish has become 10 in total. The second. The path in the history of the program.

For Underwood, who told reporters earlier this week that he would like to play a non -confessional game by season in Madison Square Garden, scheduling this play against this The team was thinking of creating an amazing stage for a jaculation, a real freshman from Lithuania, via FC Barcelona in Spain. The reconnaissance and executives of the NBA have been familiar with the jaculation for several years, as a member of the second Barcelona team – although he has made some stone with the best club teams – and as a leading figure for the Lithuanian national team for young people. On average, he had 13 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per match at the FIBA ​​U18 2023 European Championships, and then appointed a team for all tournaments for the Adidas of the Next Generation in the spring of 2024. For 17.9 points, 9 assists, 6.3 jumps and 2.9 thefts. Now, during his first season in this country, Jakuctionis has already set a freshman’s record at Illinois with 10 games with 20 plus points and will join Flagg in the lottery later this year, perhaps falling into the first five elections. His teammate from Illinois, Freshman forward Will RileyIt is also viewed as a possible choice in the first round.

“When you talk about the big, on the national television game in Madison Square Garden,” the NBA CEO for Fox Sports said earlier in the week, “you always want to see how they compete in the same way when it becomes to do it at a conference Tournaments or NCAA.

The stage was decorated as in college basketball before a crowd of 19,812 charges was sold out by Madison Square Garden on the ceiling. Fans of both programs flooded on Manhattan at dinner on the biggest sports stage, the first of the two high calculations of this place will be held in about 16 hours, with number 10. John’s Uconn on Sunday afternoon (Noon et, Fox). Their orange and blue regalia aligned with the lighting on the outside of this famous building, they easily borrowed and remodeled from New York Knicks for Illini and Blue Devils. Many in the sold -out crowd were still buzzing in the capture of Matinées on Broadway before signed up in the Arena long before the Tipoff on Saturday, injecting the atmosphere of a pre -truck with March madness. Duke’s fans have long been called “Cameron North” compared to the Cameron Indoor stadium, their Arena at the Durham Campus, North Carolina, and “Cooooooooooooooooooop” were echoed when Flagg was presented with an initial lineup. The Blue Devils mascot performed a piece of ribbon over her forehead with letters to the wicked trenched in the tag, eager to start the game.

Duke left the territory with 3 points and quickly sank Illini on the night when Underwood’s team missed his first 16 attempts outside the arch and 24 from 26 to the end of the game. Even the wounds of flagg trouble, sitting in the long parts of the first half, would prevent the blue devils from scoring 54 points in the introductory stanza and leaving their opponent for the dead. Jakucational did not try a field goal in an introductory 10 minutes, giving a group of racing friends far less talented than the players surrounding Flagg, and was responsible for three wrong fires from Long Range. He finished 14 points at 4-for-10 shots while catching seven rebounds and threw out six assists.

But with the second half, there was a blow of the eyes of the eyes from Flagg, whose supernatural skills for the player for his size-raised at 6 feet 9 and 205 pounds-the plants easily visible on both ends of the floor. He appeared as a pleasantly leading blue devil in transition, where they kept the edge of 12-2 in a rapid interruption, as he harassed contact due to the schedule or offense that were drawn around the rim. He held three fingers in the air after burating an open threesome from the right wing at the beginning of the second half, and later transferred a light lob for Maluach for the street when defense of Illinois broke too much attention to the biggest star of the game.

“I just think the physicality and the way he plays against the guys who were in college – I can be six years older than him, some of these people against whom he plays – that doesn’t even miss him,” NBA said the executive director. “I think from that point of view, his mentality, his physicality, such things, what was as impressive as anything.”

The last ovation for Flagg and his NBA friends came from the remaining 6:35, to which point Duke’s lead stretched to 37, and Scheyer could remove his beginners for good, saving his legs to meet with Miami in three days. It is one of only four games that have left before the Blue Devils set off in postseason, none of them against ranked opponents. And given that as well as the Scheyer team currently plays – four wins on average 29.5 points per game from a surprise loss in Clemson on February 8th – it may be some time before its group is truly tested, if anyone, if Anyone can test this team at all.

On the biggest stage and below the brightest lights, everything went as planned.

“Just good, old -fashioned ass,” Underwood said. “Give them all the merit.”

Michael Cohen covers college football and Fox Sports basketball with an emphasis on Big Ten. Follow it on Twitter @Michael_cohen13.

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