Recruitment Post-Mortem: Cooper Flagg

Cooper Flagg has committed to Duke, he announced Monday. The top prospect in the 2024 class chose the Blue Devils over UConn. He joins Isaiah Evans, Darren Harris and Kon Knueppel in Jon Scheyer’s 2024 haul.

Similar to our post-mortem on Boogie Fland, we’ll dive into what we were hearing at various stages of this recruitment.

Reclassification

We’ll start back in August when Cooper Flagg announced his long-rumored intentions to reclassify to 2024.

NEWS: Cooper Flagg, one of the top prospects in HS basketball, will reclassify to 2024 class, where he will remain the No. 1 overall player, per On3.

Story: https://t.co/Vcdo3OPp1d pic.twitter.com/XUiCp5JjV8

— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) August 11, 2023

By this time, he had already taken an unofficial visit to Duke and the general consensus around the recruiting world was that most other teams shouldn’t bother. Two teams persisted though, earning official visits from the prized recruit.

5⭐️ Cooper Flagg, the top-ranked prospect in the country, is reportedly planning his first three official visits to Duke, Kansas, and UConn. 👀https://t.co/Yvz8ciWMJI pic.twitter.com/VBtC4i5Tpd

— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) August 23, 2023

When the visits were announced, Kansas was considered the biggest threat thanks to their substantial NIL packages and Bill Self’s ability to close on recruits. Once Self and his staff realized they had a shot, they visited Flagg at Montverde multiple times throughout the fall.

One source said, “When Jeremy Case and Bill Self walked in you could literally feel the air leave the gym. It was wild.”

UConn, at the time, was flying under the radar as a serious contender. The Huskies staff keeps an impressively low profile in today’s world of leaks and social media. They’d been working several angles with Flagg leading up to his visit and they had first crack at hosting him.

UConn Visit

The visit to Connecticut went about as well as it could’ve. In any other situation, with any other recruit, UConn would’ve sealed the deal with the attention to detail they put into this visit.

Hurley and his staff leaned into Flagg’s family ties with the Clingans. Kelly Flagg and Stacey Clingan played basketball together at the University of Maine in the 1990s. In a touching tribute to Clingan’s late mother, UConn set up a photoshoot with Cooper and Donovan wearing their mother’s jerseys.

😢 #UConn #CooperFlagg pic.twitter.com/X3YadvHSMR

— CUE THE MUSIC (@Cue_the_Music) September 26, 2023

In addition to the viral photos, UConn had plenty of things working for them. They just won the national title and sent multiple players to the NBA. Dan Hurley is one of the top coaches in the sport and his focus and tenacity mirrors Flagg’s style of play on the court. On top of that, while it wasn’t exactly home, it was close enough that friends and family could reasonably see most of his games during his one year in college. Many people we spoke to following the visit said UConn turned some heads and put themselves in position to close the gap on Duke.

Flagg Cancels Kansas Visit

In the days following the UConn visit, Kansas made sure to feel their presence known by taking another trip to see Flagg at Montverde.

Duke’s Jon Scheyer, Kansas’ Bill Self & West Virginia are in for ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Cooper Flagg’24 @Cooper_Flagg of @MVABasketball & @maine_united_1 pic.twitter.com/emIGSOidhO

— 𝒜𝓃𝒹𝓇ℯ𝓌 𝒮𝓁𝒶𝓉ℯ𝓇 (@Andrew__Slater) September 27, 2023

Then, just after noon on October 2, we received multiple messages from a source explaining Cooper Flagg had canceled his visit to Kansas. When you get news of that magnitude, especially about the No. 1 prospect in the class, you take as much time as you need to verify. It took some digging, but ultimately the source was correct and we broke the news.

Heard some rumblings out of Lawrence today that Cooper Flagg has canceled his visit to Kansas.

— Trilly Donovan (@trillydonovan) October 2, 2023

What intrigued us most about the message was the context of why the visit was canceled. Publicly, people can point to as many reasons as they want – it’s far from home, Kansas is dealing with scandal, not the right fit, etc. Behind the scenes, it’s a fairly simple equation. Duke and UConn are both Nike schools. Kansas is sponsored by adidas. We’ll let you do the math from there.

The other major story from that message was the Duke visit was still on. It would be a long two weeks between then and his arrival in Durham.

To pass the time, we tried to pitch Flagg on staying home and playing for Maine. Our efforts were surprisingly unsuccessful.

Cooper Flagg canceled his official visit to Kansas, leaving Duke and UConn as the last two teams standing for the nation’s top-ranked recruit.

Before he makes a decision, we’d love to pitch him one last time on staying home and playing for Maine.

STORY: https://t.co/HCk2JfA9lw pic.twitter.com/8czFXdCIy6

— Trilly Donovan (@trillydonovan) October 3, 2023

Frank Isola Stirs The Pot

In the week leading up to Flagg’s visit to Duke, the UConn whispers grew louder and louder. Hurley and his staff made multiple trips to Montverde and continued to apply as much pressure as possible.

UConn trio of Tom 🧠 Moore, Luke Murray & Danny Hurley were at @MVABasketball for ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Cooper Flagg’24 @CooperFlagg pic.twitter.com/dQEvyr2UI5

— 𝒜𝓃𝒹𝓇ℯ𝓌 𝒮𝓁𝒶𝓉ℯ𝓇 (@Andrew__Slater) October 4, 2023

Then, seemingly out of no where, NBA reporter Frank Isola predicted that Flagg would play for Dan Hurley and UConn.

.@TheFrankIsola predicts Cooper Flagg to #UConn 👀

“Just something I heard” pic.twitter.com/0XBonPIZLv

— Dan Madigan (@dmad1433) October 17, 2023

It was the first time anyone of general significance even hinted at the idea Flagg would go somewhere other than Duke. People quickly made the connection that Isola works with Brian Scalabrine, a longtime friend of the Flagg family. The indirect proximity of Isola to Flagg gave the comments some credence. We sent out multiple messages that night and the next day, with responses that ranged from “he doesn’t know anything” to “this is closer than people make it seem.”

UConn’s Momentum Grows

In the days following, the “momentum” for UConn reached a fever pitch. The general tenor of the sources we were talking to started to shift, hinting this recruitment wasn’t necessarily a foregone conclusion.

One source based out of North Carolina said, “They’ve got more of a chance than anyone is really thinking.”

One of our best high school recruiting sources said, “I think there’s some smoke there. Just my opinion.”

Then, a tweet from fellow burner account Samurai Hoops – someone we very much respect – caught our attention.

Streets keep saying Rachel Baker may have fumbled the bag…

Samurai still not ready to bet against Baker…#StayTuned #CaptureTheFlagg pic.twitter.com/zWdDwtYUWe

— Samurai Hoops (@samurai_hoops) October 20, 2023

We followed up with several people after that tweet and they shared similar sentiments that while Duke continued to lead, they needed to pull out all the stops on this visit to ensure a commitment. UConn had done enough to give the Flagg family something to think about going into the visit in Durham.

Flagg Visits Durham (Again)

Finally, it was time for the Flagg family to get the full Duke experience. The Blue Devils hosted Flagg, Pat Ngongba and VJ Edgecombe over the weekend as part of their Countdown to Craziness. Visit festivities included the blue/white scrimmage, campus tours, watching practice, photoshoots and an elegant, multi-course meal on the court at Cameron Indoor.

The Duke staff was very cognizant of the Flagg family’s previously established Duke fandom. They made sure to include everyone in the photo opportunities.

Family pic.twitter.com/Zcl0iGPDKB

— Duke Update (@UpdateDuke) October 24, 2023

Like most visits do, everything went according to plan. Despite having three major recruits on campus at the same time, Scheyer’s staff successfully navigated the song and dance required on an official visit. They answered all the outstanding questions and solidified themselves as the favorite to land Flagg. While there were reports that NIL was an issue, ultimately we don’t believe it was enough of a factor to sway the decision in any way. UConn was more than capable of holding their own in this space, per multiple sources.

A Decision Is Made

One trend we’ve noticed the last few months is the information really starts flowing the second day after a visit ends. This time was no different. Early Tuesday morning, we received a message from someone close to the recruitment that Flagg verbally committed over the weekend. Not long after that, a North Carolina based source and a handful of others confirmed the recruitment was over. By the afternoon, many other outlets followed suit with new crystal ball predictions. With several confirmations in hand, it was time to release an official prediction.

pic.twitter.com/CkJbrA8mKK

— Trilly Donovan (@trillydonovan) October 25, 2023

When it comes to the No. 1 prospect in the country, we had no problem waiting longer than most to log a prediction. It was worth the wait to hear it from people we trust.

NEWS: 5⭐️ Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 ranked player in the 2024 class, has committed to Duke, per sources.

Story: https://t.co/7SFcxVuL7w pic.twitter.com/bznzD0V9ep

— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) October 30, 2023

Post Recruitment Commentary

Following the Duke visit, we took some time to acknowledge the work that Dan Hurley and his staff put into this recruitment. UConn didn’t have to pursue Flagg at the lengths they did, but they earned a lot of respect around the sport for going for it. Some coaches will even tell you it’s a legitimate strategy to go after guys you don’t think you have a real shot with – though we don’t believe Hurley went into this with that mindset. Do we think UConn ever “took the lead” in this recruitment? No. But for Hurley’s staff to make up ground in what was one of the steepest uphill climbs in recruiting history is certainly noteworthy.

Duke was always considered the heavy favorite here, but Connecticut showed the college basketball landscape they’re willing and able to compete with anyone for the nation’s top recruits.

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