It doesn’t feel like six years have passed since Zion Williamson electrified Duke, the Triangle and all of college basketball simultaneously, somehow managing to eclipse all of the hype that preceded his arrival on campus.
An awful lot has happened since then, absolutely earthshaking stuff — Duke and North Carolina played in a Final Four, Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski retired, N.C. State broke its ACC title and Final Four droughts, NIL changed the game — and yet Williamson left an impression that still lingers, to the point where only his first name will suffice.
So while we clearly don’t need a generational freshman talent to have a good time when it comes to basketball, it doesn’t hurt when there is one.
Enter Cooper Flagg, the best freshman to arrive in the Triangle since Zion, and unlike Zion at this time in his freshman year, he’s already the consensus No. 1 prospect in the NBA draft.
The lanky, versatile forward is capable of doing just about everything and playing just about everywhere on the court. He’s not an athletic unicorn like Zion was, but his ceiling may be even higher. Distilled to the simplest possible terms: Paolo Banchero, only better. Time will tell.