Despite mesmerizing NBA stars, Duke teammates and basketball fans with his dunks and 3s, Duke freshman forward Cooper Flagg appeared humbled for his latest accolade.
Flagg appeared at the Los Angeles Athletic Club on Friday to accept the John Wooden award, which is given to the most outstanding college basketball player. As only the fourth freshman to ever win the award, Cooper is strongly expected to become the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.
Cooper didn’t talk about that likely path and hasn’t officially declared just yet. But Cooper spoke to Sportskeeda about other topics, including the Wooden Award, his favorite highlight reel with Duke and competing against the U.S. Men’s Olympics team last summer.
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Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been edited and condensed.
You are following the footsteps of Kevin Durant, Zion Williamson and Anthony Davis as the only freshman to win the Wooden award. How do you put that accomplishment in perspective?
Flagg: “I don’t think I’m able to put it in perspective. It’s just a surreal feeling and it’s such an honor to be here and get this recognition. It’s just such a cool feeling for me to get this recognition. To be in that company and follow that legacy as those three players as a freshman to win the award, it’s just a cool feeling. It’s definitely cool to join such elite company. It just gives me a lot of confidence moving forward.”
Which player would you like to mold your game after the most?
Flagg: “I wouldn’t say mold my game after them. But the way they play and how hard they play, I try to be my own player on the court and make as many winning plays as possible. But those guys definitely have something special to their game.
What do you admire about their games?
Flagg: “Just the IQ and the effort they all play with and the defensive versatility. That’s something that I can compare myself to.”
What do you take away from your NCAA run both as a team getting to the Final Four and your own play?
Flagg: “It was an incredible year and an incredible journey with a lot of great, great people. I made a lot of really good relationships that I’ll have for the rest of my life. Obviously, it didn’t end the way that we wanted to [with a loss to Houston], but it was an incredible journey. It was an incredible ride with that team. I have no regrets about anything. I wish we could’ve gotten it done. But it was an incredible year. There are lessons in everything both with successes and shortcomings, the losses and the wins. I just have to move forward and take the things that I learned and moved forward.”
What were the keys to play at a high level after your ankle injury?
Flagg: “Coming back from the injury, I was getting with the medical team and getting with the trainers. I was doing the rehab and doing everything that I had to do. We have an incredible staff at Duke with Jose Fonseca (head athletic trainer) and Nick Potter (director of high performance & sports science), two guys that are really key and central to me and the rest of the team of guys that helped me get and helped me get ready to be 100% to go.”
What’s your favorite highlight between your dunks and 3s?
Flagg: “Probably the dunk vs. Pitt at home. That was a crazy dunk. That was probably one of my best dunks of my career so far. It was electric in Cameron [Indoor Stadium] that night. So just going back to that is a great moment. It was just the play itself. You don’t get a dunk like that very often. It was an electric play. The energy in the gym was at a really high level. That made it a lot more fun.”
Can you me walk me through that moment with how you pulled it off and the emotions you felt?
Flagg: “I had just picked up my third foul. And then the guy was posting me up, so I was going off of him, tried to go around him and get the steal. I saw a lot of open court. So I threw the ball out and ran through it. Once I saw some open space, it took off. I kind of blacked out. Then the ball went in and I was back on the ground. My eyes kind of went blank. I don’t really think in the moment. It just happens really fast. But I was able to make the play.”
What’s it like to watch the replay?
Flagg: “I definitely didn’t realize how far I jumped or how high up I got. So seeing the replay is pretty cool and knowing that I’m even capable of doing something like that.”
How did you pull off so many clutch plays in last year’s Team USA scrimmage?
Flagg: “That whole experience was surreal for me being out there to compete with the highest level of competition in the world. You know those are where all the best players are from the best league in the world. So to battle and play against them was a surreal feeling. I learned so much from being on the court and sharing the court with them.”
What do you take away from the support and feedback from LeBron, Steph and KD?
Flagg: “I think it’s really cool to hear them talk about me in a positive light. Those are players that I grew up watching and grew up idolizing. To hear them talk about me and say I was able to hold my own was really cool. It just gives you a lot of confidence moving forward.”
Mark Medina is an NBA inside for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.
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Edited by Jeet Pukhrambam
