Flagg to Duke. Official

[Coach J]

I figured this thread would be ablaze

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Best of luck to him.

F Duke

 

[Hunt for 7]

Hurley quote on recruiting: we are blue collar basketball not social media basketball. That’s why he makes the big bucks. Expressing disappointment by making it a positive. Let’s just keep doing it the way we always have. At UConn blue collar = blue blood.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

“I look at our recruiting, obviously we have to stick to our identity and what’s worked for us because it’s worked, the range we’ve recruited in has paid dividends,” Hurley said. “But then you’re also evaluating each recruiting class and its relative strength and what you should go for in a class. There may be incredible value in the 52nd-ranked player in the country in a class, to you maybe is a guy who’s a two-year player and you love his ability. Then, maybe in another class, a player that’s in that range you may not like and say, ‘I’m gonna shoot higher and if I don’t win there I’m going to the portal because I don’t think this high school player can help us.’ I think it’s just, you’ve got to adapt and you’ve got to look at each class differently.”

Nation’s top recruit Cooper Flagg chooses Duke over UConn

Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 high school basketball recruit in the country, has chosen Duke over UConn, putting an end to a recruiting process that drew national interest.

www.courant.com

Alternate access:
Nation’s top recruit Cooper Flagg chooses Duke over UConn

Hmm..this guy seems to "get it"...glad we didn't fire him at halftime of the Iona game!

 

[Rings R Us]

I feel like a lot of these 5 star rated players just have a huge ego and want to play with other 5 star players (not saying Cooper has a massive ego, just talking about the majority of players).

It's like the cool kids wanting to sit with the other cool kids in the high school cafeteria.

Cooper knows deep down Scheyer and his staff are NOT better than Hurley's. So that's a load of crap in the article mentioning how much he loved Scheyer holding his players accountable. He just wanted to be at Duke since he was young, watching their practice wasn't a factor. You think the majority of these players picking Duke post Coach K. actually think Scheyer is the second coming? Don't think so!

Duke is just still perceived as one of the 'cool' schools, like Kansas and Kentucky. It's all good, we will keep beating these teams on the court, and pick up some more studs along the way as our stock keeps rising.

Oh yeah, and the creepy Duke baby. Never underestimate how big of a recruiting factor that one is. I knew once I actually saw him smiling whilst holding that mangy looking thing that it was over for us.

 

[kansashusky]

Hurley about to go nuts in the portal...

 

[Scoe]

Well good try by Hurley but we really didn’t have a chance. Flagg was a Dukie a long time ago.

 

[superjohn]

I feel like a lot of these 5 star rated players just have a huge ego and want to play with other 5 star players (not saying Cooper has a massive ego, just talking about the majority of players).

It's like the cool kids wanting to sit with the other cool kids in the high school cafeteria.

Cooper knows deep down Scheyer and his staff are NOT better than Hurley's. So that's a load of crap in the article mentioning how much he loved Scheyer holding his players accountable. He just wanted to be at Duke since he was young, watching their practice wasn't a factor. You think the majority of these players picking Duke post Coach K. actually think Scheyer is the second coming? Don't think so!

Duke is just still perceived as one of the 'cool' schools, like Kansas and Kentucky. It's all good, we will keep beating these teams on the court, and pick up some more studs along the way as our stock keeps rising.

Oh yeah, and the creepy Duke baby. Never underestimate how big of a recruiting factor that one is. I knew once I actually saw him smiling whilst holding that mangy looking thing that it was over for us.

Duke is perceived as one of the 'cool' schools yet I don't know anyone who thinks they're cool. All the college basketball fans I know perceive them as the dorky cry baby school.

 

[CL82]

I feel like a lot of these 5 star rated players just have a huge ego and want to play with other 5 star players (not saying Cooper has a massive ego, just talking about the majority of players).

I really don't feel like that's the case Flagg. He seems like a good kid, and certainly an astounding talent, who made the decision to go to a different school. He's been nothing but respectful and gracious regarding our school and our program. It doesn't seem to me that his process was ego fed. In fact, his family seemed to want to keep everything on the down low.

 

[Rings R Us]

I really don't feel like that's the case Flagg. He seems like a good kid, and certainly an astounding talent, who made the decision to go to a different school. He's been nothing but respectful and gracious regarding our school and our program. It doesn't seem to me that his process was ego fed. In fact, his family seemed to want to keep everything on the down low.

Agreed, I was implying most kids other than Cooper.

 

[bfs3]

I feel like a lot of these 5 star rated players just have a huge ego and want to play with other 5 star players (not saying Cooper has a massive ego, just talking about the majority of players).

It's like the cool kids wanting to sit with the other cool kids in the high school cafeteria.

Cooper knows deep down Scheyer and his staff are NOT better than Hurley's. So that's a load of crap in the article mentioning how much he loved Scheyer holding his players accountable. He just wanted to be at Duke since he was young, watching their practice wasn't a factor. You think the majority of these players picking Duke post Coach K. actually think Scheyer is the second coming? Don't think so!

Duke is just still perceived as one of the 'cool' schools, like Kansas and Kentucky. It's all good, we will keep beating these teams on the court, and pick up some more studs along the way as our stock keeps rising.

Oh yeah, and the creepy Duke baby. Never underestimate how big of a recruiting factor that one is. I knew once I actually saw him smiling whilst holding that mangy looking thing that it was over for us.

I’m surprised more guys don’t look at Duke and say they don’t want to just be another guy. There are five + top 5 stars who went to Duke over the past few years I can’t name. Same with Kentucky. There are plenty of schools like UConn that will put you in a position to win, get paid and be drafted just as much as Duke and possibly become a legend while you’re there.

I want to say I’m thankful he included us but really I hope the entire team catches a V.D. and ends up quarantined from the tournament.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

Not an unexpected result. He was never really UConn type of recruit, but it would have been nice to get someone like him for one year.

We were always built with kids that stay more than one year, and we should continue to focus on kids like that going forward. There are plenty of options in the portal and with other kids.

 

[thedude0416]

I feel like a lot of these 5 star rated players just have a huge ego and want to play with other 5 star players (not saying Cooper has a massive ego, just talking about the majority of players).

It's like the cool kids wanting to sit with the other cool kids in the high school cafeteria.

Cooper knows deep down Scheyer and his staff are NOT better than Hurley's. So that's a load of crap in the article mentioning how much he loved Scheyer holding his players accountable. He just wanted to be at Duke since he was young, watching their practice wasn't a factor. You think the majority of these players picking Duke post Coach K. actually think Scheyer is the second coming? Don't think so!

Duke is just still perceived as one of the 'cool' schools, like Kansas and Kentucky. It's all good, we will keep beating these teams on the court, and pick up some more studs along the way as our stock keeps rising.

Oh yeah, and the creepy Duke baby. Never underestimate how big of a recruiting factor that one is. I knew once I actually saw him smiling whilst holding that mangy looking thing that it was over for us.

I certainly understand the Duke hate stemming from the histories but it might be a little premature to cast stones at Scheyer just yet.

Albeit a down year for the ACC, he won the ACC championship in his first season. There doesnt seem to be a drop in their recruiting.

Even Coach K in his first few seasons at Duke was pretty awful. You gotta give Scheyer some credit, like it or not.

 

[wingsfan055]

The 2024-25 recruiting season is turning out to be a huge disappointment.

 

[PNolanFan]

Duke's dept chart next year is gonna make no sense. They have 11 5 star wings/forwards right now (not actually 11) and are adding like 5 more so the way I see it there has to be quite a few decommits and transfers. Or maybe the bag is just too good and these guys are getting paid enough to not care about not playing

 

[Hurleyman216]

We shocked the world!!!....wait? What?

 

[bfs3]

I had similar concerns leading up to this outcome. With that said, it made sense to go hard after Flagg since he's from New England, showed interest in us and would have been a good program fit. As for Ngongba, we were on him for quite a while, got a commitment from his cousin, was a good fit for a big need.

With that said, you play with fire when all of your eggs are in the same basket with the top blue blood programs. UConn's success has been built on the backs of under-ranked recruits who end up better than where they were ranked coming out of high school.

It seems to make sense for Hurley and the staff to have kept some irons in the fire with players ranked between 25 and 75, though that may be a challenge when those type of recruits see the program also going after players at the same position who would likely take their playing time or that program dropping them once they secured a commitment from the higher rank player.

One would think that after coming off a national championship we'd have a lot more top 100 interested recruits. Is where we stand right now the result of the staff not pursuing those type of recruits or a lack of Interest or recruits not seeing a path with top 20 competition being pursued a lot harder than them.

My inclination is Hurley and his staff might want to work a little harder recruiting the middle of the top 100 in addition to going after one or two top recruits that they have a shot at. Maybe this is lesson learned. We did land one of the top guards (Nowell #30) already, but landing multiple top third players in the same class is not something that has happened often or ever at uconn. Note that we did not secure any fall official visits except for Flagg and Ngongba. Maybe casting a wider net next time around is a lesson learned.

There's still the transfer portal, international pool and recruits that are either uncommitted or shake loose next spring to fill whatever needs they might have.

Hurleys quote explained a lot to me. We weren’t in heavily with a lot of mid range recruits as it felt in previous cycles. He said some years you think they’ll help your team and some years you feel you’d be better off in the portal. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy to gamble his future seasons after making it to the mountain top on a couple of long shots.

 

[TheHorde]

Not an unexpected result. He was never really UConn type of recruit, but it would have been nice to get someone like him for one year.

We were always built with kids that stay more than one year, and we should continue to focus on kids like that going forward. There are plenty of options in the portal and with other kids.

The part that doesn’t make sense for many of us is the amount of time and resources the staff spent on recruits that they obviously felt were worth investing in, that we didn’t end up getting. Meanwhile lots of very nice four star players kept committing other places. I’m disappointed because I’d rather recruit and develop our own four stars that will stay at least two or three years rather than constantly churn through the portal.

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

“For me, ever since I was a little kid, I always had dreams of playing Division I basketball at the highest level. Especially with a place like Duke…”.

So does this mean that we can officially blame Kevin Ollie for losing out on Flagg?!

Given that during Flagg's most formidable years growing up as a New England basketball kid watching D1 basketball, we were off battling for NIT bids and losing to Tulane, Tulsa, and ECU on the regular. If he was 5 years younger or 5 years older, he would have been fanaticizing about playing for UConn growing up instead of Duke!

 

[polycom]

Duke is perceived as one of the 'cool' schools yet I don't know anyone who thinks they're cool. All the college basketball fans I know perceive them as the dorky cry baby school.

Being a star at duke is much different than being a normal student at Duke. This is why they say fan opinions don't matter.

 

[Waquoit]

Maybe this pursuit will pay off down the road. I don't know. But this guy made us look like a bunch of chumps. Screw him.

 

[Hunt for 7]

Hurleys quote explained a lot to me. We weren’t in heavily with a lot of mid range recruits as it felt in previous cycles. He said some years you think they’ll help your team and some years you feel you’d be better off in the portal. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy to gamble his future seasons after making it to the mountain top on a couple of long shots.

Agreed he made a few very good points this morning. But when you get to the level we are now at….as he indicates the number of 4* that will help starts to get reduced. If we can’t attract more 5* then we run into a sustainability issue. Few up years followed by a few mediocre years while we build back up. So for us to reach the status of being in top ten year in and year out some part of the equation will need to change.

 

[BugsyCT]

Are you really surprised enough to even be angry?

 

[Stinger92860]

I feel like a lot of these 5 star rated players just have a huge ego and want to play with other 5 star players (not saying Cooper has a massive ego, just talking about the majority of players).

It's like the cool kids wanting to sit with the other cool kids in the high school cafeteria.

Cooper knows deep down Scheyer and his staff are NOT better than Hurley's. So that's a load of crap in the article mentioning how much he loved Scheyer holding his players accountable. He just wanted to be at Duke since he was young, watching their practice wasn't a factor. You think the majority of these players picking Duke post Coach K. actually think Scheyer is the second coming? Don't think so!

Duke is just still perceived as one of the 'cool' schools, like Kansas and Kentucky. It's all good, we will keep beating these teams on the court, and pick up some more studs along the way as our stock keeps rising.

Oh yeah, and the creepy Duke baby. Never underestimate how big of a recruiting factor that one is. I knew once I actually saw him smiling whilst holding that mangy looking thing that it was over for us.

Fflagg

 

[superjohn]

How? He visited our school and then decided he still preferred Duke. I'm not understanding any of the animosity here.

You don't understand it because it doesn't make sense. If anything Flagg did us a solid by being his only other visit. If our fans on Twitter looked like chumps that's because they are chumps. Flagg handled his recruitment about as well as a kid can handle his recruitment.