The dance lastly ended with the Cooper Flag, and Duke was faraway from the NCAA Match.
In a spectacular and painful style, the 18-year-old sense collapsed below the intense mild of the school hoops as he and Duke endured a brutal 70-67 loss in opposition to Houston within the 2025 NCAA Division I Males’s Basketball Last 4.
The Cooper Flag and the Blue Devils led at 14 for his or her proper to enter the title stage, and slowly witnessed their championship desires within the closing eight minutes because the Cougars started their ferocious rally.
Houston, carrying 26 markers from LJ Cryer, stamped his ticket to the ultimate spherical in opposition to Florida. Flag’s Recreation Excessive 27 Markers and later-game heroic makes an attempt weren’t sufficient to elevate Duke out of the meltdown.
As soon as the dream season with Duke reaches its finish, many are awaiting future entries for Flag to the NBA draft board.
Heading into the ultimate 4 rounds, Flag had a particular alternative to quickly witness first-class tissue remedy from the San Antonio Spurs.
As San Antonio acts as the location for this 12 months’s Last 4, the Spurs are beneficiant sufficient to supply Flag and Duke with the mandatory preparations for his or her excessive stakes video games, permitting the Victory Capital Efficiency Middle Follow facility for use.
The Flag and the Blue Devils additionally acquired strong receptions from San Antonio, whereas providing a glimpse of the town’s wealthy tradition and hospitality, providing a style of a top-class basketball clinic and a strong reception from San Antonio. Flag was additionally approached by Spurs legend David Robinson. He visited throughout considered one of his follow periods.
Forward of the weekend recreation in opposition to Houston, Flag expressed fascinating phrases about his expertise across the Spurs coaching facility and his heat welcome in San Antonio earlier than his closing 4 video games.
“It is lovely,” Flag stated on the final 4 press conferences. “It is a gorgeous place.
“I benefit from the climate and every little thing. Simply being right here, it is a gorgeous metropolis. The Spurs facility, clearly it’s totally new, very trendy.
“It is a gorgeous facility, it is an awesome facility, it is the highest of the Notch facility and what they’ve there.
“So it was an awesome, fantastic place.”
Spurs followers definitely hope that Stars will land on San Antonio and kind a significant one-two punch mixture with Victor Wembanyama, conquering your entire NBA for years to come back.
The unbelievable mixture of measurement, expertise and potentialities is predicted to make Flagg the general decide for No. 1 on this 12 months’s NBA Draft. The Spurs group solely requested, as soon as once more, to have one other era of luck, by with the ability to put younger geniuses on their aspect.
After Wembanyama’s thrombotic analysis and De’aaron Fox’s end-of-season surgical procedure, Spurs took a step again from attempting to compete. With the 32-45 card, it’s at present ranked thirteenth within the Western Convention Ladder.
Via Tankathon, they’ve the eighth finest odds to win the lottery and win the general selection (6.0%).
They’ll pray to recreate the wealth the Atlanta Hawks have earned since final 12 months. There, they’ll win the highest general decide regardless of a low 3% likelihood and finally use it to pick French prospect Zaccharie Risacher.
With the NBA Draft Lottery set in Chicago on Could twelfth, spurs can discover a solution to cross their fingers and catch the flag.
