Flagg has seized the spotlight all year, is sport's biggest star

A hobbled Cooper Flagg was determined to celebrate top-ranked Duke's latest Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title by snipping a piece of the net, even after missing two straight games. So he crossed a sea of scattered confetti and began climbing a ladder, with fans, teammates and media members closely watching as he took the first step up on his sprained left ankle. "Be careful, brotha!" a voice implored amid the din. "Be careful, up and down." As Flagg descended with keepsake in hand, he bypassed the ladder's lowest step and touched down on that same left foot, offering a momentary awkward gait. "Just don't hurt yourself getting off the ladder, please," another voice said. Sure, it was a small — and maybe a little nervously tense — moment, but it captured a slice of the gaze that has been locked on Flagg all season. The biggest star in the NCAA Tournament is a freshman who didn't turn 18 until nearly two months into the season and went on to be an unanimous Associated Press first-team All-American. Yet his presumed lone March Madness run as a potential No. 1 overall NBA draft pick begins with him nursing that ankle injury and the East Region's top seed facing a bit of late-season tumult, only magnifying the attention on Flagg's every step, dribble or potential grimace. "Man, Cooper's handled every single thing that's been thrown at him with grace," graduate guard Sion James said after Duke's home finale against Wake Forest. "People have been saying all kinds of stuff about about him, really good and really bad. He's taken it all in stride." Only now he'll have to thrive amid the biggest spotlight of the sport in the NCAA Tournament, where college stars can become even bigger names amid the upsets and buzzer-beaters that captivate the country every spring. Bumpy times The 6-foot-9, 205-pound forward gets his shot, one stuffed full of storylines. First there's the injury, when he rolled his ankle after coming down on a rebound and crashed to the court in last Thursday's ACC quarterfinal against Georgia Tech. He hobbled to the bench and pounded a chair in frustration before heading to the bowels of the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he had X-rays and was briefly spotted by TV cameras in a wheelchair before walking out on his own power — no boot, no crutches — to rejoin his team after halftime. He hasn't played since, though coach Jon Scheyer expressed optimism that Flagg could be ready for Friday's home-state opener against the American-Mount St. Mary's winner about a half-hour from the Duke campus. There was also the Blue Devils losing versatile defender Maliq Brown to a shoulder injury only moments before Flagg was hurt. And Scheyer has had to shake up staff duties with assistant and defensive coordinator Jai Lucas leaving after the regular season to get the jump on his tenure as Miami's new head coach. "Cooper's got an opportunity here to do some real hero stuff," said ACC Network analyst Luke Hancock, the Final Four most outstanding player for Louisville's later-vacated NCAA title run in 2013. "You can come back from injury and you find a way to lead the team with Jai Lucas leaving and Maliq Brown being hurt. "If Cooper Flagg wins the national championship, it's going to be, 'Look what he did coming out of the wheelchair in the ACC Tournament,' just kind of adding to the story." And what a story it's already been. Meeting the moment Flagg has lived up to the lofty expectations, which began years ago in the form of growing whispers about a hoops prodigy back in his home state of Maine. He was was the undeniable star of a team that swept the ACC outright regular-season and tournament titles for the first time since 2006, and now enters the NCAAs having spent the past two weeks at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll. There have been plenty of highlights along the way. A strong showing to beat eventual No. 1 overall NCAA seed Auburn and fellow unanimous first-team AP All-American Johni Broome in December. An ACC freshman single-game record 42 points against Notre Dame. A highlight-reel transition dunk against Pittsburgh in which he all but stuffed 7-foot defender Guillermo Diaz Graham into the basket while being fouled. And of course, dominating the first meeting against rival North Carolina, then overcoming first-half foul trouble to do it again after halftime in Round 2. Flagg leads Duke in five major categories: scoring (18.9), rebounding (7.5), assists (4.1), blocks (1.3) and steals (1.5). He's a versatile threat, sideline to sideline and baseline to baseline, with game-changing ability as a scorer and playmaker that had him frequently flirting with a triple-double that ultimately has eluded him. So far, anyway. "Being around this level of coaches and coaching, skill development every single day just helped me immensely," Flagg said after his possible Cameron Indoor Stadium finale. "I feel like I've just gotten so much better all around." Thriving in an older game Flagg's story has taken shape amid a time of rapid change in college sports, notably with the transfer portal allowing more player movement in what amounts to de facto free agency. There's still a final crop of players in their fifth year of eligibility secured by competing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with Auburn's Broome checking the box on both categories after starting his career at mid-major Morehead State. Add that together, and coaches across the country are putting a premium on dipping into the portal to add veteran talent over high school recruits who might transfer elsewhere anyway. Yet amid an older game, there's still an allure to seeing the best freshmen take on the spectacle of March Madness, particularly at marquee-brand bluebloods like Duke, Kentucky, Kansas or North Carolina. And Flagg is as prepared as anyone could be. "Incredible, he's been incredible all year long," Duke associate head coach Chris Carrawell said after the ACC title-game win. "Put the play aside. Your team kind of follows the personality and the attitude of the best player. And he's been so selfless." ___ AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.