He’s the runaway favorite to be selected No. 1 overall in this year’s NBA Draft. He’s a finalist for every major national player of the year award. He has led Duke within two wins of the program’s sixth national championship.
It’s inarguable that Cooper Flagg has delivered an all-time great freshman season. The question now is how high he has climbed up the list of college basketball’s greatest one-and-dones.
Is he already the best? Could he cement that title if he and his Duke teammates cut down the Alamodome nets Monday night? Or are the likes of Carmelo Anthony or Anthony Davis still a cut above even if Flagg, too, leads his team to a national title?
Below is my attempt to rank Cooper Flagg among college basketball’s greatest one-and-dones. The ranking is based on what each player accomplished in his lone season at his respective school and not based on subsequent professional accomplishments.
T10. Jahlil Okafor, Duke, 2014-15
With his 6-foot-10, 270-pound frame, massive hands and rare combination of deft footwork and soft touch, Jahlil Okafor is a throwback from a bygone era. He was a dominant low-post scorer who came along at a time when those were about to fall out of fashion at the NBA level.
He was the No. 1 player in his high school class. He averaged 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds for a Duke team that won the 2015 national championship. He earned ACC player of the year and first-team All-American honors before going No. 3 overall in the NBA Draft.
What keeps Okafor from going higher on this list is that he wasn’t Duke’s best player during its title run. He had 10 or fewer points in three of the Blue Devils’ last four NCAA tournament games as Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow and Quinn Cook, and even Grayson Allen, made massive contributions.
T10. Trae Young, Oklahoma, 2017-18
For four-plus months, Trae Young was college basketball’s ultimate must-watch one-man show. He averaged a ridiculous 27.4 points and 8.7 assists. He led the nation in both those categories. He drew comparisons to the great Steph Curry with his impossibly deep 3-pointers, deft passes and mastery creating via pick-and-rolls.
Young did everything he could to put Oklahoma on his back, but the burden of carrying a modestly talented roster proved too great. An Oklahoma team that cracked the top five in the country in mid-January of Young’s lone season lost 12 of its final 14 games. Opposing defenses blanketed Young, his scoring efficiency declined and his teammates were unable to provide enough support.
Young’s college career ended the most fitting possible way. He had 28 points, seven assists and a trio of 3-pointers in a first-round NCAA tournament against Rhode Island. Oklahoma still lost in overtime 83-78.
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