It is why Flagg was named The Associated Press men's college basketball national player of the year on Friday, becoming only the fourth freshman to win the award in its 64-year history.

Cooper Flagg has been one of the better players throughout the 2025 NCAA Tournament, leading No. 1 seed Duke Blue Devils to the Final Four for the first time under Jon Scheyer.

Duke’s current efficiency is 38.15, the nation’s highest since the 2001 Blue Devils ended the season, with an NCAA championship, at 37.32. The only team with a higher KenPom efficiency at time of the year? Duke’s 1999 team that went 37-2 and finished with a 43.01 efficiency.

No. 2-seed Duke women's basketball fell in the Elite Eight to a hot South Carolina squad. The Blue Zone is here to break down the Blue Devils' tournament run, complete with a key player, one word and one stat to describe the performances.

Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer and his staff enjoy the nation's top-ranked 2025 recruiting class, consisting of the Boozer twins plus two more five-star prospects in Bellaire High School (Texas) forward Shelton Henderson and Harvard-Westlake School (Calif.) forward Nik Khamenia.

SAN ANTONIO – Mark this down just in case. Only five freshmen have ever been named Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four, from Utah’s Arnie Ferrin in 1944, the year before he was drafted for World War II, to Duke’s Tyus Jones in 2015. It just doesn’t happen very often. Takes a special player in the right place at the right time.

His success in the AAC made him one of the most highly coveted quarterbacks in the transfer portal. 247Sports ranked him the No. 7 quarterback and No. 72 overall player. Mensah received interest from several Power Four programs before ultimately choosing Duke.

The money the best players can command in NIL is rapidly approaching some of the dollars that the best coaches make and while many of today's players are entering the transfer portal to make as much money as possible,