One of men’s college basketball’s biggest stars is back for the NCAA Tournament.
Duke basketball star guard Cooper Flagg is expected to be back in the Starting Five for the No. 1 seeded Blue Devils on Thursday when they kick off their hopeful national championship run against No. 16 seed Mount St. Mary’s at 2:50 p.m. ET at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Flagg, who is a leading candidate for Naismith National Player of the Year, has been dealing with a sprained left ankle injury over the last week that kept him out of Duke’s ACC tournament semifinal and championship games.
Despite missing two games in the ACC tournament, Flagg still leads Duke in every statistical category, including points (18.9 per game), rebounds (7.5), assists (4.1) and steals (1.5). He enters the NCAA Tournament shooting 48.8% from the field.
Duke is set to tip off against No. 16 Mount Saint Mary’s in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Friday, March 21 at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mount St. Mary’s defeated American in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday, March 19.
Here’s the latest on Flagg and his status for the NCAA Tournament:
Coop update –> active tomorrow vs. Mount St. Mary's
@Cooper_Flagg pic.twitter.com/V5fDURoYPF
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) March 20, 2025
Is Cooper Flagg playing in March Madness? Duke basketball star’s first-round status
Yes, Flagg is expected to play in Duke’s March Madness opener on Friday. The Blue Devils made the announcement official on their X (formerly Twitter) account Thursday afternoon
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Flagg said Thursday during a media availability in Raleigh, North Carolina. “We have an incredible team, incredible training staff, so we’ve been working through the steps of just getting back, getting to 100 percent. I’m very confident moving forward”
During an appearance on ESPN’s “Bracketology” show on Selection Sunday, Duke coach Jon Scheyer said the Blue Devils’ plans for Flagg was to have him back for Friday’s NCAA Tournament opener.
“From my perspective, it’s full steam ahead. I want to get Coop back as quickly as I can, and he wants to do the same. Obviously, tomorrow is important. Today was an off day, we got back late (from the ACC tournament),” Scheyer said Sunday on ESPN. “We are 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.
