Youth Movement: Flagg Flagged as Duke's 6th 1st-Team A-A in Last 12 Years

Cooper Flagg is the sixth Duke freshman in the last 12 years to be named a first-team All-American. We may have reached an inflection point in replenishing rosters where experienced transfers - seasoned veterans for "won-and-done" aspirations - are more vital than immature "one-and-done" high school recruits. For instance, Duke and Kentucky ranked 1-2, 1-3 or 2-3 in nine of the previous 11 recruiting classes with the Blue Devils also ranked #1 in 2022 after UK was #2 in 2021. But it didn't mean squat of late in terms of success reaching the Final Four. Duke, which lost in national semifinals in 2022, is the only one of the two bluebloods advancing to the F4 in the previous seven tourneys. Similarly, Memphis ranked atop the recruiting list twice in a three-year span from 2019 through 2021 but the Tigers garnered a grand total of two playoff triumphs since 2014 after winning opener this year.

Prior to pathetic playoff performance two years ago, Brandon Miller (Alabama) was outstanding as a freshman in becoming an NCAA consensus second-team All-American. But he fell short of first-team acclaim. Four years ago, Oklahoma State's Cade Cunningham achieved a distinction luminaries Mark Aguirre, Carmelo Anthony, Stephen Curry, Patrick Ewing, Phil Ford, Tyler Hansbrough, James Harden, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Bernard King, Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O'Neal, Derrick Rose, Ralph Sampson and Russell Westbrook failed to do. Flagg is the 26th yearling on the following chronological list in this rare-air category named first-team A-A: