Duke’s dominance begets a Final Four frenzy ahead of showdown with Houston

Khaman Maluach hoists East Regional trophy to send Duke and its precocious young roster back to Final Four. (Photo by Yahoo Sports)

By Sam Federman (@Sam_Federman)

SAN ANTONIO — When Jon Scheyer sat down at the podium for the first press conference of his first Final Four week as the head coach, the first question that he faced had nothing to do with basketball.

“What is your favorite Cooper Flagg commercial?” A reporter asked the third-year Duke boss.

It’s easy to forget that Flagg is just 18 years old, as he’s one of the most poised and talented players we’ve seen in the college game in years, but also his ubiquity in the media has surpassed any collegiate player since Zion Williamson.

For what it’s worth, Scheyer said that his favorite commercial is the “Bingo” one. That’s the correct answer.

Flagg and the Duke freshmen have never played on the Final Four stage, but they grew up in a media environment that watched their every move on and off the floor, and they aren’t shaken by anything.

No team that starts three freshmen should be as well-oiled of a machine as the Blue Devils are. Last year’s UConn team started three underclassmen, but one was a third-year sophomore (Alex Karaban) and also had two fifth-year seniors (Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer), and a coach in Dan Hurley who had already won a national championship as a head coach. Duke is more dominant (according to KenPom) with a third-year head coach and a roster driven by its youth.

“I think that’s the thing you try to do always, try to set a new standard for what you can do,” Scheyer said. “Now, we've had some pretty special classes, some freshman classes. I think this group, the way they’ve been so mature with really just being up for any challenge, the way they compete, the way they understand the game. They’ve been mature.”

Of course, that all begins with the prodigious Mainer himself, whom you cannot go five minutes without seeing in the college basketball space. He’s the best player in the country, and tackles everything that comes with it with the class that one aspires for. At its heart, he’s just another kid from Maine.

“I mean, I think I’m a regular kid,” Flagg said. “I’m okay at basketball, I guess. Just doing normal things that any teenager, any kids like to do. Not acting a certain type of way, being humble, being who I am, how I was raised by my parents. So yeah, I think just being normal and knowing I’m no different than anybody else.”

On Friday, Flagg was honored with the USBWA Oscar Robertson National Player of the Year award, and it felt like just another day, as the Blue Devils are just two wins away from a national championship.

Duke hasn’t faced a team like Houston, and Houston hasn’t faced a team like Duke, but the Blue Devils’ incredible size, athleticism, and poise seems to be the perfect matchup to go against Houston’s blitzing ball screens.

Flagg will only play a maximum of two more games in a Duke uniform, but he’s left a massive mark on the legacy already, having added his name to the team’s list of National Players of the Year, ACC Players of the Year, and Regional Most Outstanding Players.

But there’s still one more weekend to cap off the storybook season.