With Cooper Flagg struggling and Duke’s season on the line, the Blue Devils’ other freshmen stepped up to deliver the program into Saturday’s national semifinals.
This hasn’t been the case all season: Flagg has delivered on gargantuan expectations with one of the most complete seasons by a freshman in Power Five history.
But he was not himself in the Elite Eight against Alabama. Facing the possibility of being eliminated in the regional finals for the second year in a row, the Blue Devils were carried past the Crimson Tide and into the Final Four matchup against Houston by leaning on two first-year players who have spent the year in Flagg’s shadow.