I was invited by an Iron Duke friend to go see them play last Saturday against the Lincoln Lions. Cooper Flagg was certainly as advertised; however, the guy that stood out for me was #7 Kon Knueppel. I believe he'll be as much a factor for Duke this year as any freshman has been.
Does Kentucky's three-heavy offense neutralize Cooper Flagg?
- Thread starter FurdTurgason
- Start date
We now have a coach that might *GASP* actually adjust the game plan to beat Duke and neutralize their strengths. It's shocking!
Surely you jest….. Officials and Duke go together like peanut butter and jelly man. Now, each of OUR starters may have 4 each by halftime.
Now when you say adjust…….you mean what exactly………
High-percentage is the key, yes.Making 21 of 42 3s will neutralize anybody.
Confidence level in other phases of the game increases …
The great white hype from Maine? 
He might be great but one guy is not going to beat you. Better have something to go with him
He might be great but one guy is not going to beat you. Better have something to go with himLet me put it like this: come the last 5 minutes of the gm: Cooper and Duke will be waving the white Flagg.
You’re saying Flagg is the best player in the Nation? What do you base that statement on; and do you mean among freshman, college players or the professional ranks too?
He’s the front runner for national player of the year, will most likely be the #1 pick in the next NBA draft, and plays for one of the premier basketball schools in the country and has the machine working in his favor. Obviously that doesn’t include NBA players, I mean I assumed that went without saying.
It's not always obvious what people mean when they say “best player in the Country” because quite a few use that phrase in regard to every #1 ranked high school player – and it’s very rarely, if ever, true. It's not always clear who the “best” player in CBB is, but by my definition that would be a guy that has the biggest impact on winning games during the season. And that won’t often be a freshman. Now the guy selected player of the year after the season has a great argument, but being projected as, or even being picked as, the #1 player in the NBA draft is not at all corelated with who the best player in CBB is/was. Making a statement at this point that Flagg is the best player in CBB is rather obtuse and recruiting fanboyish in my opinion. You might very well have a better current player on your own team.
Oweh does too.
Did you make this post before or after a trip to your favorite bar? All kidding aside, I expect UK to win, but it won't be a blowout.
Yeah. It wasn’t necessarily a diss on Flagg so much as to say he hasn’t earned that recognition yet and that they are basing that pre-season vote on hype alone, no incoming freshman should have that consideration until they’ve played some games and earned it. The vote is more a diss on current great players who have earned it.
Much like the MVP awards. It's became more about hype and popularity than actual production.
People sure seem scared of this kid. There are 5 players in the floor for each team. It ain’t one on one. People might ought to wonder what he and his team are gonna do to stop us.
Nobody has ever watch him play in a single Div 1 basketball game, as he hasn’t played in one. Justin Edwards was the projected #1 pick before last season started and he was barely our 4th best freshman on our team alone. He could be a world beater, he could be a flop, he could be anything in between. Who knows really, I’ll just take a wait and see approach.
It will be early in the season for a 17 yr old kid with big, tall 22 yr old grown men hawking him the whole game.
Yes. I think Flagg has a lot of talent (good defensive instincts) and will likely be a good Pro in a few years - maybe even sooner rather than later. I've watched a good deal of the top ranked high school recruits for as long as the ability to do so via video has existed - many times in person for guys UK was recruiting, but mainly by video (and sometimes just highlights). I don't have anything negative to say about Flagg other than he's 17 and still has a way to go to reach his potential - although I think he might be closer to his ceiling than most freshmen. In fact, if my team was forced to rely heavily on an OAD freshmen, he might be the guy I would pick (maybe?). Flagg may even end of being the best freshman in CBB - it certainly seems that the role he will be given at Duke will give him that opportunity if he good enough now - but I think even that is not assured by any means. But again, in my opinion, stating today that Flagg is the best player in the Nation is not justified by anything seen to date and is reflective of what someone might believe if they (1) don't comprehend that recruiting rankings are forecasts of future professional potential expected to be realized multiple years from the date of the ranking; and (2) think recruiting rankings of high school players indicate who the best players in CBB will be in the upcoming season.
Even assuming that Flagg is the best player in the nation, that wouldn’t make Duke unbeatable. Zion comes to mind.
Indeed. Oweh played against top opponents in the Big 12 night in and night out ... as did Garrison ... and Robinson (in the SEC too) ... and Kriisa (and in the Pac-12 too, where he started on NCAA tournament teams) ... Carr played the likes of Duke and UNC at Wake Forest ... Almanor guarded Zach Edey when #16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson upset #1 seed Purdue ... Williams was on a Drexel team that upset Villanova ... Brea and Dayton won a fairly evenly matched NCAA game against Nevada last year before losing to Arizona ... and then everyone remembers what Butler did in the Final Four.
Big game experience is one thing we have in abundance.
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He put up a huge 9 points on 3-9 shooting vs a BAD Arizona St team. There's no way we can stop him, or even slow him down!!!
My son and I are making the trip to Atlanta, and we are plenty jacked! GBB!!!
Not sure where the confidence is coming from with a completely new coaching staff and roster. We have no idea how we will look against legit competition.
He only played 19 min didn’t he? Thought I saw 19 min, 9 points, 6 boards, 3 assists, and 0.5 blocks
3 of 9 is BAD anyway you look at it. The 9-6-3 is ok if you consider the minutes, but it is NOT "oh we can't stop him" other-worldly that some on here are crying about. If you extrapolate that out, that would be 15-10-5 in 31-min (on 5-15 shooting).
Every team has 60-80% NEW ROSTERS! Sure, we are at 100%, although if you consider new players to the head coach, then we are at 92% (Pope returning Robinson).
Duke only returns 2 players (Foster & Proctor), just one more guy than Pope returns.
You left out Butler starting for a team that played for the National Championship, he even hit the game winning shot in the Final 4 game.
So yes, we have lots of big game, top competition, experience from: Kriisa, Butler, Oweh, Robinson, Carr, & Garrison. And Brea was at an upper-end mid-major (borderline Major) school.
This offensive specialist coach, also brought in 2 players who were multi-year winners of conference DEF-POY awards, and a third guy known for his defense.
Really funny how the media built up Flagg to be the basketball God of the world and now they are already concerned he will not be nearly as good as they thought. Only 9 points against Arizona St. and could not hit three's. It said he wasn't even in the category of Victor W, much less the greatest of all time.
Yes that is correct. Douchebag recruited douche bag, but lost out eventually to a bigger douchebag than the first two combined.
I would find that pretty encouraging personally…15-10-5 and he didn’t shoot well…
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