Tough. Relentless. Fierce.
That’s how wildlife experts describe the honey badger, a stout mammal known for its imposing strength and fearlessness.
It’s also how some of the people who know Ace Flagg best describe him on the court.
Flagg, a freshman on the University of Maine men’s basketball team, earned the nickname “Honey Badger” even before he started playing AAU ball alongside his twin brother, Cooper Flagg.
Andy Bedard, the Flaggs’ longtime AAU coach growing up, said Ace Flagg arrived to his youth team already having that nickname courtesy of his family.
“He kind of showed up on my doorstep with Cooper, with the kind of nickname,” Bedard explained about Ace Flagg. “And he wasn’t necessarily a very good basketball player at all when I first met him. As a matter of fact, when he first came to our tryout, I didn’t even know that Cooper had a twin brother.”
Bedard said Ace Flagg clearly had size and aggressiveness early on.
“He just wasn’t a basketball player,” Bedard said, at least not yet.
Flagg’s mother, Kelly Flagg, told Bedard at the time that they had nicknamed Ace the “Honey Badger.” Bedard asked why, and was told that he would see.
And he sure did.
Bedard pointed to the classic viral video that celebrates the honey badger’s toughness in the wild. The video famously pronounced that the animal doesn’t give a darn, to put it mildly.
That’s how Flagg plays the game, according to Bedard. He takes more charges than anyone else on the team combined. He matches up against bigger players. He shows relentless toughness on both sides of the ball.
Bedard said Flagg will need that same tough, “I don’t care” type of honey badger attitude at UMaine.
“Taking charges. Diving on the floor. Jumping in the bleachers,” Bedard said. “If he’s going to fight somebody on the other team, he might as well fight the whole team. He needs to have that approach, and that toughness and that backbone.”
That effort was critical for the Maine United AAU team. And Bedard remembered one game where Flagg’s energy dipped below that usual standard, and Bedard let him know it.
“I need the Honey Badger right now,” he recalled imploring Flagg in that moment.
And now the Honey Badger is a Black Bear. The six-foot-seven Flagg is bringing another wave of excitement to a momentum-fueled UMaine program that fell just one game short of its first-ever NCAA tournament berth last season.
Flagg, a versatile forward who won high school championships in a potentially unprecedented string of three different states, is ready to play whatever role UMaine coach Chris Markwood needs in Orono.
“That’s something I’ve always prided myself on, is just doing the dirty work, doing whatever it takes to get the win,” Flagg said this summer before an early practice as the UMaine team started its preseason work.
The 18-year-old from Newport has evolved his game from a back-to-the-basket post player on the 2022 Maine state champion Nokomis Regional High School team, into a more versatile outside threat.
“He’s gonna need to be the honey badger at Maine, because it’s not like he’s 6-foot-11,” Bedard said. “He does everything pretty good. His motor is really his difference maker.”
The former coach is looking forward to Flagg demonstrating that motor at UMaine, where Bedard also had his own hall of fame career as a captain on the men’s basketball team.
“I think the toughness and energy that he’ll bring with some local support — and get some people into the stands and get a little bit more excitement around that men’s team — will be incredible, obviously for the program, and for the state,” Bedard said.
UMaine men’s basketball ticket sales already saw a surge this offseason ahead of Flagg’s arrival.
“He’s an everyday guy. So everybody’s going to love him,” Markwood said this summer. “He’s just a hardworking kid, tough as nails. And gonna do some great things here, I’m excited to see where things go.”
Flagg is also following in the footsteps of his mother, who played on the women’s basketball team at UMaine and was recently inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.
Kelly Flagg has repeatedly said that she is excited for Ace to play at her alma mater, and has frequently used his honey badger nickname when posting about his accomplishments on social media.
UMaine fans will also have a chance to lean in to that nickname, with officially licensed Ace Flagg “Honey Badger” t-shirts available online through the NIL Store. For the price of $44.99, people can purchase the shirt featuring a photo of Flagg in his UMaine jersey along with images of two actual honey badgers.
Bedard is excited to see Flagg take that honey badger attitude to the court for UMaine. The former coach could usually tell just from the look in Flagg’s eyes before a game that he was ready to bring it.
“You kind of know when he’s dialed in,” Bedard said about Flagg. “It’s a very good thing when you’re coaching him and you can tell the Honey Badger’s ready to play.”
