Duke coach Jon Scheyer announced Cooper Flagg would not play in the championship match of the ACC tournament on Saturday against the winner of Louisville against Clemson.
“I do not send myself any news, but Cooper will not play tomorrow,” Scheyer told journalists.
X-Rays returned to negative after the first-year student of the Blue Devils superstar left the team’s quarter-final match of the team’s ACC Tournament against Georgia Tech with an ankle sprain. Without Flagg, Duke passed the Canton -Rival de Caroline du Nord Friday evening despite a 23 -point lead – thank you in part, in part, to a fortuitous way violation.
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Flagg suffered the injury with 2:46 to play in the first half after riding his ankle down for a defensive rebound. He immediately caught his ankle and twisting pain in the field while the coaches took care of him. Flagg was finally helped out of the ground with help in the locker room and later placed in a wheelchair to be taken to a examination room.
Duke joined a two-digit deficit without flagg on the ground to win 78-70.
“He walked his ankle,” said Scheyer on Thursday. “The radiographs were negative, which is great. We just have to understand that it will be swollen and see how it recovers and how we go from there.”
Flagg could not initially put much, if necessary, on the leg after the incident, which is not uncommon for the sprains of the ankle. He hit a chair on the frustration bench and shouted before being brought back to the locker room. In an encouraging sign, Flagg returned to the bench while walking under his own power and without a boot.
Asked about his status for Friday’s semi-final match against North Carolina, Scheyer did not appear as optimistic that he will send his star recruit on the ground.
“Well, I already know how he is wired. And look, to be honest with you, I should be, like, convinced by everyone in the locker room when I will go back to play,” said Scheyer. “It is not worth it. It’s not. Again, it was already swollen. It’s not about being ready to go tomorrow. It is not the most important thing for us. We must see if we can do it well for this race that we can consider if it can go there tomorrow.”
Flagg leads Duke in the score, the rebound, the assists and the blocks this season for a team from Blue Devils who won the ACC title and entered the playoffs with a global record of 28-3. Flagg finished the regular season in style with a 15 points, Nine-Rebound, six assistants and four houses in the scanning of the North Carolina Rivale de Duke.
Duke’s injury problems against Georgia Tech alone are narcotic with the selection on Sunday to a few days. Earlier in the match, junior striker Maliq Brown also suffered an injury in an apparent worsening of a throbbing shoulder injury. He was taken to the hospital and has a dislocated shoulder.
The CBS sport crochetologist, Jerry Palm, expects Duke to be tight on the Flagg’s injury during the weekend in order to possibly preserve his place as a seeded n ° 1.
Flagg, a favorite from betting to win the national player of the year and the project N ° 1 choice in the draft of the NBA 2025, is the first recruit of a major conference to lead its team in the five main statistical categories since Ben Simmons did for LSU in 2015-2016, stressing its irreplaceable production.
The big question with Flagg is of course how much, if not at all, the injury persists, and to what extent it can have an impact on it. He was able to return to the bench since the locker room while promoting that slightly his ankle, which could in theory well for his future availability while Duke walks in the playoffs as one of the favorites to win the NCAA championship. The ratings of the Championship for Duke in certain places went from +300 to +770 in a few minutes following the Flagg injury, before reinstalling at +350 when the cameras showed it walking without severe lameness.
If Flagg is missing the NCAA tournament
In a cruel world in which this injury ends up being worse than expected and flagg is missing the tournament, engraving its name along Kenyon Martin as all time, if, here are the issues: Flagg would be the 5th player to win the national player of the year (AP, Booden or Naismith) and not play in the NCAA tournament (1963-64 Bradds Gary Thompson, 1999-00 Martin).
However, the Duke apart from Flagg is far from sterile. There are four other five -star prospects on the current Duke list, including two other choice of lottery projected for 2025, led by goalkeeper Kon Knueppel, the second scorer of the team, and the Khaman Maluach center, a large 2 -inch 2 inch man who is second in the rebound and block team.
Auburn is tied for Duke as the favorite to win everything (+350), with Houston and Florida (+700).
