More On Duke’s Massive Recruiting Win With Cooper Flagg
It’s a big day for Duke and the post-K direction of the program
There was a story posted last night - or at least we saw it last night - about how many schools undervalue their social media teams.
We’ve talked before about how Duke sort of pioneered the whole idea of having what, for lack of a better term, you can call a social media department. Dave Bradley and his team have done a phenomenal job of that and possibly never more so than with this video posted to celebrate Cooper Flagg’s commitment.
Really, just watch this and think about what a stunning tool Duke Basketball has made out of social media. And never forget this - it was forged as a response to, and at the absolute peak of Duke Hatred. The main idea, remember, was that Duke was getting a raw deal from the media and so decided to tell its own story. Keep that in mind when you watch that video.
As you know, Flagg opted to hold off on his commitment after the shocking and disgusting events in his home state of Maine last week when a shooter gunned down 18 people. It was the right decision and indeed the only decision because, as it turned out, Flagg announced via Slam’s Web site. Slam! put together a considerable package and it would have been gross to have put that out while people were still in shock over the events in Maine. Kudos to him for having that awareness.
Although you never know for sure how a recruit will work out in the long run, it’s a huge get for Jon Scheyer. Remember that he is replacing a legend in Mike Krzyzewski, a coach who is frequently mentioned as the G.O.A.T. and replacing a legend has never been easy. It’s still early, but Duke has a shot at having the best transition from a legend to his successor in the history of college basketball.
It’s a huge validation for Scheyer. He’s been recruiting brilliantly since being named as K’s successor, but this one was off the charts. Flagg’s final three choices were Kansas, where Bill Self stands poised to be the dominant coach in the post-K era if things break his way, and UConn, where Dan Hurley is coming off of a national championship season and could be at the beginning of a brilliant run.
By the way, speaking of Hurley, UConn replaced icon Jim Calhoun with Kevin Ollie, who won a national championship but who then almost blew up the program too. That transition thing is hard to nail.
Remember what we said a while back about how Christian Laettner had a profound effect on JJ Redick’s college decision?
Redick saw the legendary 1992 game vs. Kentucky and immediately told his dad that he was going to Duke. We’ve heard that from other players as well.
So who did Flagg point to?
Jayson Tatum and...Grayson Allen.
Allen of course has been heavily vilified. It’s part of the tradition at Duke: someone, usually a White player, gets singled out and mocked nationally. Allen made it easier because of his tripping incidents, but he would have gotten the treatment anyway. That’s just part of the deal.
It comes as a bit of a surprise though that Flagg points to Allen as one of his favorites and an inspiration. That’s very cool and it must make Allen feel good too.
With the addition of Flagg, Duke’s class moves to #1. He joins Isaiah Evans, Kon Knueppel and Darren Harris. Evans and Knueppel are fellow five stars while Harris is a four star. All four can really, really shoot the ball. The first three commits will open the floor up immensely for Flagg.
The one thing the class is missing is a big man but if Patrick Ngongba, who is due to announce on Saturday, chooses Duke he’ll walk into a nearly ideal situation for a post player.
There are no guarantees that he’ll choose Duke of course, but if he does, it’s going to be a stunning class.
One last note on UConn.
Jim Calhoun was a brilliant coach and, as Coach K recently called him, perhaps the greatest program builder of all time. He was not always likeable though (funny thing for Duke fans to say since so many said that about Krzyzewski for years, but whatever).
You can’t really say that about Hurley.
First, there is a connection there because of his brother, Bobby, who had a brilliant career at Duke and his family has a ton of respect not just from Blue Devil fans but from any knowledgeable basketball fans. Danny is highly volatile and it’s possible that his emotions may make it hard for him to have a long career, but that’s part of why he’s immensely likable. We will always pull for his team when it doesn’t involve Duke.
That said, UConn fans have been getting a bit snotty on Twitter recently, so it’s going to be fun to see their reactions today. We recommend it.
One final word on that phenomenal video from Duke’s social media team: some day soon, it may be revised and presented again with Flagg saying “we got another one.”
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