Plenty of former and current college coaches are enamored with Cooper Flagg’s game.
Jim Boeheim, the legendary former coach at Syracuse University, recently likened Flagg to Larry Bird. After a March 3 matchup with Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils, Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes compared Flagg to several players including Kevin Durant.
That is high praise from experienced coaches who have been watching or competing against Flagg. But what about a coach who has been working with Flagg for years?
Matt MacKenzie is the longtime player development coach for both Cooper Flagg and his twin brother Ace. MacKenzie, who owns Results Basketball and Eastern Maine Sports Academy in Veazie, has worked with the Flaggs for years to help develop both the physical and mental aspects of their games.
Mackenzie spoke with the Bangor Daily News this week about Cooper Flagg winning several top Atlantic Coast Conference awards, the season that Flagg has had so far heading into the ACC tournament and the many different comparisons that get thrown Flagg’s way.
“I don’t think that it’s easy to compare Cooper to one particular player,” MacKenzie said. “I think Cooper Flagg is one of one.”
Flagg has the makeup of a few different players, MacKenzie said, using several Boston Celtics as examples.
“So to make it easy, to put things into perspective for New England basketball fans, I think Cooper has the versatility of Jayson Tatum, I think he has the court sense and IQ of Larry Bird, and I think he has the intensity defensively like Kevin Garnett,” MacKenzie said.
Like Tatum, Flagg has spent his freshman year at Duke University. And what a freshman year it has been. Flagg was named ACC Player of the Year this week, along with conference Rookie of the Year. He was named to both the all-conference team and all-defensive team.
“I feel like there was really no question whether or not he should be the ACC Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year,” MacKenzie said when asked about those awards. “He’s more than deserving of all of the honors that the conference could possibly give him.”
Flagg also set a new ACC record with 12 Rookie of the Week honors this season.
MacKenzie called the individual recognition that Flagg has received a reflection of the hard work and time he has put in to get to this point. But Flagg is focused on his team heading into the postseason, MacKenzie stressed.
“It’s great to see him be recognized. I still think that there is more to come in terms of individual accolades he’s going to receive from his efforts this year,” MacKenzie said. “But in talking to Cooper, while those things are great, he’s so focused on the team’s success and he’s really looking forward to the postseason and hopefully being able to lead Duke far into the tournament, and ultimately to a national championship.”
Duke moved up a spot to the No. 1 overall ranking in college basketball this week, and heads into the ACC tournament as the top seed. Flagg leads the team in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks — a feat that hadn’t been accomplished for 25 years in the ACC.
MacKenzie emphasized that the recognitions are well-earned.
“But this is just the appetizer, and he needs to stay hungry for the main course,” MacKenzie said, recounting something that he and Flagg discussed this week. “And that’s going to be hopefully a run at the final four.”
Asked about the way Flagg has played this season, MacKenzie said he feels that “Cooper has been even better than advertised all year long” while continually showing his versatility during a “sensational season” at Duke.
“And I feel like he is just hitting his stride now at the right time,” MacKenzie added.
Asked about the strengths of Flagg’s game, MacKenzie pointed once again to his versatility and the ability to play point guard, on the wing or inside — a combination that MacKenzie called “very hard to match up with.”
He also highlighted Flagg’s court sense and basketball IQ, including how Flagg “picks defenses apart” by finding open teammates when facing a double-team or other defensive approaches.
And then there is Flagg’s intensity, evident throughout this season.
“His competitiveness is what fuels him. And his will to win just makes him so much better,” MacKenzie said. “So he can be having an off shooting night but he’s going to find areas where he can impact the game in other ways.”
Those other ways might be diving for loose balls, rebounding or blocking shots.
“He doesn’t have individual statistics in mind coming into his games,” MacKenzie said. “It just so happened that his impact is so great that he, at the end of the season, led Duke in every single major statistical category.”
Duke head coach Jon Scheyer emphasized Flagg’s competitiveness, consistency and teamwork during a February interview on the Goodman and Hummel Basketball Podcast. That description tracks with input from MacKenzie, who also told the BDN in February that he speaks weekly with Scheyer.
“I just think that he’s arguably had the best freshman season of any Duke basketball player in the history of the program,” MacKenzie said this week. “I know that one of the biggest compliments that I could give him is that he’s just been the greatest teammate. From everything I hear from his coaching staff, he’s been coachable every single day. And he’s just been an absolute joy to be around.”
Flagg has also shown his share of joy on the court this season, something that seems to go hand-in-hand with his intensity.
“Cooper genuinely loves the game of basketball. This is what he does, and I think that that’s what has continued to make him so successful, is because he finds joy in the process,” MacKenzie explained.
Flagg is one of 15 players on the ballot and remains the odds-on favorite to win the John R. Wooden Award, given to the best player in college basketball.
“I think that it’s easy for a player like that who loves the game so much to want to continue to get better, because he’s addicted to that success,” MacKenzie continued. “And I think that in order to be at the level that Cooper is, you have to love it. Because if you don’t, I just don’t know how you would really be able to get to where you want to be.”
Flagg and Duke start ACC tournament action on Thursday at 12 p.m. against the winner of Georgia Tech and Virginia.
