The men’s college basketball season is less than three months away, and early polling suggests that incoming Duke University freshman Cooper Flagg could end up being the nation’s top player.
According to CBS Sports’ annual “Candid Coaches” poll released Wednesday, 36 percent of 100-plus Division I coaches picked the 2024 Gatorade Male Athlete of the Year as the NCAA’s best men’s basketball player for the 2024-25 season. The coaches are polled anonymously.
Following Flagg in the poll were three seniors with four total All-American selections to their names: Alabama point guard Mark Sears (22 percent), Kansas center Hunter Dickinson (16 percent), and North Carolina point guard RJ Davis (15 percent).
“He’s gonna have the ball in his hands, he’s gonna have a very long leash and most importantly, he’s gonna have the nation’s attention on every move,” one coach said of Flagg. “The campaign is going to be loud.”
“Cooper Flagg will ultimately be the best player in college basketball next season. Playing against the USA team this summer and not backing down to those guys will give him an extra edge from the start,” another coach said. “If I had to place a wager on the Player of the Year, I would actually go with Hunter Dickinson, but I think Flagg will be the best player and the guy that half of the NBA is trying to tank for next year.”
Cooper Flagg will be the centerpiece of a talented yet young squad at Duke, with five top 25 prospects coming in and just two returning players.
By virtue of the Blue Devils’ relative lack of experience, Dickinson’s Jayhawks (35.6 percent) and Sears’ Crimson Tide (27.9 percent) were more popular picks to win the national championship compared with Duke (9.6 percent). Meanwhile, Houston received 13.5 percent of votes and two-time defending champions UConn received 7.7 percent of votes.
“[Kansas has] a phenomenal core of experienced players in Dajuan Harris, Hunter Dickinson and KJ Adams. They also add AJ Storr and others to go with that incredible home-court advantage,” one coach said.
“How good is Cooper Flagg going to be? That’s the question. But I think he’ll be great, and there are enough really good pieces around him for Duke to win it all,” another coach said. “That’s the most talented team in the country. Just gotta see if it comes together. But the talent to win it all is there.”
