Stephen A. Smith: Cooper Flagg must show more, not buying Kansas as title contender

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith can’t quite buy into the hype of Duke freshman Cooper Flagg just yet following the loss to Kansas Tuesday night.

That’s not to say Smith doesn’t like Flagg as a player nor does he think he won’t be great. It’s early in the season, so that’s precisely why Smith came out with this take now.

He needs to see more out of Flagg and it didn’t help that the Duke star went against the No. 1 team in the country, which Smith also doesn’t buy.

“Flagg’s got some skills. I mean, everybody’s been raving about him,” Smith said on First Take. “I haven’t really seen it. I watched this game last night, and I haven’t really seen, he had 13 points, hit five of nine shots. Could have been a little bit more aggressive offensively, stuff like that. He’s young. He’s only going to get better. He’s going to be terrific. I have no doubt. 

“But all the noise that has been made about him, I have no doubt that it’s true. I just need to see it on this level right now, because I haven’t seen it yet. And again, Kansas got athleticism. They’ve got size. Duke had trouble scoring in the interior. I get all of that, but I just found myself looking at them and I’m like, this is the number one team in the country?”

Sure, Kansas improved to 7-0 on the season and is still No. 1, knocking No. 11 Duke down to 4-3 on the year. But Smith isn’t buying them as the top squad in late-November, which is why he probably expected Flagg to have a bigger game.

“I didn’t see a championship team when I looked at Kansas,” Smith said. “And here’s what alarmed me, you’re the number one team in the nation. That’s the number one team in the nation? I just didn’t get it. I didn’t see that. So that’s something to be concerned with.” 

Flagg finished the 75-72 loss to Kansas with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists. He’s widely considered the best freshman in college basketball and a popular bet to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

As a member of the Class of 2024, Flagg was a five-star-plus recruit out of Newport (Maine) Montverde Academy (Fla.), according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 1 overall prospect in Florida, the No. 1 small forward in the class and the No. 1 overall prospect in the class.