A kid from Maine scored 18 points in the NCAA tournament on Sunday afternoon to help the Duke Blue Devils advance to the Sweet 16.
And plenty of other Maine kids were paying attention.
“He’s made it all this way, and he’s from a small town in Maine, so that means I could work hard and also get where he’s at,” 9-year-old Landon Walker of Milo said on Sunday while Flagg and the Blue Devils played against Baylor University.
Walker and others were watching the NCAA tournament game in Veazie amid another tournament for Maine youth basketball players.
Players from around the state converged on the Bangor area over the weekend for a series of club basketball games hosted by the Maine Grassroots Basketball League. As youth players battled it out in local gyms, Cooper Flagg and No. 1 Duke were battling it out with the Baylor Bears.
“He’s a really good all-around player. And it’s really exciting watching him play, because he’s so good,” said Evie Hamlin, a 6th grader at Poland Community School. “It’s really cool for Maine.”
Flagg’s success has provided extra motivation and attention for players across the state.
“Maine didn’t get looked at a lot before Cooper,” said Khaelon Watkins, a highly anticipated 8th grader at King Middle School in Portland who called Flagg inspirational. “And now that Cooper’s on the stage he’s on, what he’s doing, we’re getting looked at a lot.”
An ambassador for the state
Flagg has changed the expectations for young Maine basketball players as he continues to change games for Duke.
Sunday’s contest was close initially, and certainly much more competitive that Duke’s opening round romp over Mount St. Mary’s, but a strong end to the first half from Flagg and others helped the Blue Devils run away from Baylor 89-66.
Flagg has left little doubt that he is one of, if not the best player in college basketball across the country. And some prominent players from around the state — from middle schoolers all the way up to University of Maine Black Bears — were at Eastern Maine Sports Academy in Veazie on Sunday for the grassroots league action.
High school junior Addison Cyr, who earned a spot on the Bangor Daily News Class C girls all-tournament team while playing for Mattanawcook Academy this year, was also in Veazie on Sunday.
“I definitely think it’s cool to know that a kid from Maine is out there playing in March Madness,” Cyr said about Flagg. She trains with Matt MacKenzie, the longtime player development coach for both Cooper Flagg and his twin brother Ace.
“Just at 18 years old, Cooper’s already left his imprint all over Maine basketball. But now you’re seeing it at the national level,” said MacKenzie, who owns Eastern Maine Sports Academy where the Vezie event was being held, when asked about Flagg playing in the NCAA tournament and his impact on young players in Maine. “Whenever I go, people are always talking about Cooper Flagg. And he’s just been such an incredible role model and ambassador for basketball in the state of Maine.”
Maine basketball is moving up
Sarah Talon, a junior guard on the University of Maine Women’s basketball team, is another one of those current role models. It wasn’t that long ago that she was a kid in Windham, Maine, being inspired by the players that came before her.
“It’s great to be role models for kids, especially kids where you’re from, in the state of Maine,” Talon said after watching some of the action in Veazie on Sunday. “Because you were once in those shoes, and you once had those people you want to look up to.”
And there is no shortage of basketball role models for Maine kids to look up to right now.
“It’s great that they have great teams, and great people and great athletes to look up to, like our team, the men’s team, and Cooper and Ace Flagg,” Talon said. “They set a great example for young generations to come, and hopefully keep moving in the right direction — which is up, for Maine basketball.”
The UMaine women are consistent contenders in the America East conference. The UMaine men just finished their best season in over 20 years. And Cooper and Ace Flagg have ramped up the excitement to a new level.
“They’ve helped Maine basketball a lot, not just Cooper, but Ace also,” Watkins, the 8th grade standout, added. He’s excited for Ace Flagg to return to Maine next season as a UMaine Black Bear, and plans to go see him play.
Always working to be better
Like plenty of other kids from Maine, Lila and Elin Main are enthralled by what Cooper Flagg is doing at Duke this season. The sisters from Bangor say they think about the success that Cooper and Ace Flagg have achieved when playing basketball together.
“It’s just cool to know that coming from a very small town in Maine, there’s a lot you can do,” said Lila Main, who is in the 6th grade.
Elin Main has Duke winning her March Madness bracket, and the 4th grader said that Cooper Flagg has helped her set a very lofty goal that she knows will require a lot of hard work.
“Cooper Flagg, he’s inspired me to go into the WNBA,” said the younger Main sister.
Inspiration is nearly ubiquitous when you ask Maine kids about Flagg. And why wouldn’t it be? He’s doing something that nobody from here has even done.
“It gives you hope,” Clara Polakowski said about Flagg’s success. She played on the 8th grade team in Dedham this season.
Faiz Omar, who was recognized as a top freshman this year playing at Westbrook High School, also called Flagg inspirational.
“A lot of kids want to be like him,” Omar said
And to be like Cooper Flagg, it takes a lot of hard work.
Asked about this exciting moment for Maine basketball and what he’s focused on, Khaelon Watkins provided an answer that Flagg would probably appreciate.
“How I can get better,” Watkins responded.
