Is Duke star Cooper Flagg playing in the NCAA Tournament first round?

There is no question that Duke's NCAA title hopes hinge on the health of All-American forward and National Player of the Year candidate Cooper Flagg. The true freshman phenom injured his ankle in last week's ACC Tournament quarterfinals and missed the rest of the tournament.

That has led many Duke fans to obsess over his recovery and prognosis as it pertains to Friday's first-round matchup against either American or Mount St. Mary’s, a pair of No. 16 seeds that will battle it out tonight in a First Four game in Dayton, Ohio.

Duke head coach Jon Scheyer provides promising update on Cooper Flagg

Fortunately, it appears that Flagg and Duke avoided a catastrophe last week. While Flagg's injury initially appeared serious and he was even seen being wheeled around in a wheelchair moments after leaving the game, he appears to be cleared to fully participate in this weekend's tournament games.

"Well, from my perspective, it's full steam ahead," Scheyer said Sunday on ESPN. "I want to get Coop back as quickly as we can and he wants to do the same. Obviously, tomorrow (Monday) is important. We get an off day today, we got back late. We're hoping he can start to progress starting tomorrow with doing some on-court work and then build up to where he can practice later in the week.

"So our goal is for Friday, no question about it. I know that's his goal as well. We're just going to progress him the right way and still be smart about not doing too much in the beginning of the week."

After seeing Flagg return to the sidelines during the second half of the game in which he was injured and then seeing him walking with no noticeable limp as he appeared on the bench to cheer his teammates on over the following two days, Duke fans everywhere stepped back from the edge of the cliff and again started dreaming about seeing the Blue Devils win the NCAA Tournament.

Flagg is considered the best player in the tournament. He averaged 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game leading up to the Big Dance. Now, he and Auburn forward Johni Broome are widely believed to be the two primary candidates to be named the player of the year on college basketball.

With Flagg in the lineup, Duke is a heavyweight. In fact, the Blue Devils have the best odds in America to cut down the nets in San Antonio at the Final Four.

Hopefully, Friday's game against the winner of tonight's matchup of No. 16 seeds in Dayton won't tax Duke too much and Flagg will only have to play enough minutes to test his ankle enough to have confidence in it for the rest of the tournament. That would be an ideal situation for his return and it would set Duke up to start their run through the East Region in the best way possible.

Update (3/20/25)

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports is reporting that Flagg will play Friday against Mount St. Marys. Great news for the Blue Devils.