Duke Men's Basketball Players Give Their Recruiting Pitch to Cooper Flagg

Friday night, Duke hosted its annual Countdown to Craziness. It is the program’s midnight madness event that officially kick-starts the season. The event is two-fold for the Blue Devils, allowing the fans their first in-person look at the new team. It is also a big recruiting weekend.

This year, Duke had three recruits on official visits, headlined by On3’s No. 1 ranked player in 2024, Cooper Flagg. Flagg is notably down to Duke and UConn as his final two, and Flagg visited UConn on September 22 weekend.

Kyle Filipowski is considered a pre-season college basketball All-American by many. He is Duke’s sophomore center who decided to pull his name out of the NBA Draft to come back for year two at Duke. Filipowski, like Flagg, is originally from the Northeast and a former top-ranked player in his class.

I spoke with Kyle Filipowski at Duke’s Countdown to Craziness to get his thoughts on why a top recruit from the Northeast should go to Duke.

Filipowski’s Pitch

“This is the best place to be, to be honest,” Filipowski told On3. “You want to go somewhere that you can become a better version of yourself, and this is the place to do that. The environment still feels like home; you know it’s a little warmer in the winter, but it gives Northeast vibes for sure.”

Foster and McCain give their Pitch

Jared McCain was a five-star recruit and a McDonald’s All-American out of Corona, California. He chose Duke after also taking visits to Houston, Gonzaga, and Louisville. McCain chimed in on why a five-star should choose the Blue Devils.

“Duke is Duke, man,” McCain told On3. “I looked for any reason not to like it when I was getting recruited, and I couldn’t. It really is everything and more. It is everything you want it to be and then more. You get to compete against the best on the biggest platform and in front of the best fans. If you’re a top recruit, I don’t know why you wouldn’t come here.”

Caleb Foster was a top 20 recruit, originally from Harrisburg, North Carolina. The freshman chose Duke over 20-plus other offers.

“There is no place like this, really,” Foster told On3. “You get the best of everything: basketball and education. People who go to Duke succeed.”

Cooper Flagg Backstory

Cooper Flagg has been very open about the fact that Duke was his “dream school” growing up. At the USA Basketball Junior National Team Training Camp in June of 2022, Flagg told On3, “Growing up, Duke was always my dream school. I always looked up to the Duke players, watched all their games and stuff like that.”

Flagg went on to make the USA Basketball team that competed in the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup. Flagg, who at 15 was one of the youngest players on the roster, led the team in rebounds, blocks, and steals. That led to On3 calling Flagg the top prospect in high school basketball in July of 2022. 

While Flagg’s stardom was rising, much of his recruitment was staying quiet. Originially being a part of the 2025 class, Flagg could not officially visit schools until August 1 of 2023, and he could not have college coaches contact him directly until June 15 of 2023. A couple of weeks after an August 1 unofficial visit to Duke, Flagg announced he would reclassify into the 2024 class. In doing so, Flagg went from the No. 1 player in the 2025 class to the No. 1 player in the 2024 class. With November 8 starting the early signing period, Flagg’s reclassification started to fast-track his recruitment. He took his first official visit, to UConn, on September 22. His second official visit, to Duke, is October 21.

The NBA rule is for a player to be draft eligible, they have to turn 19 by December 31 of the year they are drafted. With Flagg having a December birthday, he will turn 19 a few days ahead of the deadline.