Duke freshman Cooper Flagg entered the NCAA tournament at the top of multiple leaderboards. He has led his team in all five major statistical categories, he leads mock drafts as the projected first NBA pick and he remains the leading contender for college player of the year.
But until Sunday, there was at least one category that Flagg was not leading in his own family — at least not by himself.
Until Flagg and Duke secured a second round win over Baylor University this weekend, Flagg was still tied with his mom, Kelly Flagg, for their number of wins in the NCAA tournament.
Kelly Flagg, then Kelly Bowman, was a key player on the 1998-99 University of Maine women’s basketball team that won the school’s only NCAA tournament game with an upset over Stanford. Her son tied her in the category when Duke sailed past Mount St. Mary’s in the opening round, and eclipsed her family tournament win record Sunday against Baylor.
When Kelly Flagg spoke to the Bangor Daily News last week, she made it clear that this was a record she would like to see her son break. But she also had some fun with the fact that she had the family record heading into the tournament.
“But for the next five days, I can still brag that I’m the only Flagg who has won a tournament game in the NCAA tourney,” she said on March 17.
And if you look back in the BDN archives, this fact about NCAA wins isn’t the only example of Flagg family history repeating itself on the basketball court.
Yes, Cooper Flagg is achieving some nearly unprecedented feats — not just for his family, but for anyone to ever play college basketball. As just the most recent example, he became only the fourth NCAA player to win both the Oscar Robertson Trophy and Wayman Tisdale Award on Monday.
Even as he rewrites history on a national stage, there are clear echoes of his family’s history and what his parents achieved as prominent forces in Maine basketball.
His parents, Kelly and Ralph Flagg, were both high school standouts at Nokomis in Newport. Kelly went on to play at UMaine and Ralph at Eastern Maine Technical College (now Eastern Maine Community College).
You don’t have to spend too much time combing through the BDN archives to see clips from Flagg’s parents’ high school and college playing days, and there are some pretty interesting parallels to be found. Their stat lines and approaches to the game from decades ago are reminiscent of what we’re seeing from Cooper Flagg today.
Take, for example, the way 6-foot-7 center Ralph Flagg was averaging over 15 points and 13 rebounds per game for Nokomis in February 1991. The 18 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots he put up against Bangor High School in January of that year could just as easily be stats from one of Cooper’s games this year, with both Flaggs showing an ability to impact the game in many different ways.
Before becoming a Flagg, Kelly Bowman was demonstrating that same complete approach as a basketball player. That’s probably why she was named first team All-Maine as a junior at Nokomis in 1994, not too long before she committed to play at UMaine. She was averaging more than 18 points, 11 rebounds, three steals, three blocks and two assists per game during that junior year of high school. Based on those numbers, you can argue that she set the standard for the entire family when it comes to an all-around game.
“She can score, rebound, handle the ball and play good defense,” former Nokomis coach Charlie Wing said in 1994. “She’s a very well-rounded player who does everything well. She also has a tremendous desire to succeed and is very coachable. I wish I had a dozen Kelly Bowmans.”
That statement, almost word for word, would be true about Cooper Flagg today.
This isn’t the only example of Flagg family history repeating itself. One of those 1994 stories about Kelly focused on her decision to play at UMaine — something her son Ace, Cooper’s twin brother, will now be doing as a Black Bear next season.
Staying close to home and playing at a great program seemed to be a priority for Kelly in that 1994 article, and Ace has similarly expressed excitement about coming home to Maine and joining the positive momentum under UMaine men’s coach Chris Markwood.
“A large factor of my decision was a love for the state of Maine as a whole. Being able to play and represent the state I love is extremely special to me,” Ace told the BDN recently. “I am excited to be able to play for Coach Markwood, with the culture he’s created at Maine. It is an amazing opportunity.”
History may not repeat itself, but when it comes to the Flagg family and their approaches to the game of basketball, it certainly rhymes.
