Cooper Flagg, the most effective highschool gamers of the last decade and chief of the 31-0 Montverde Academy (Fla.) Eagles, was named the 2023-24 Gatorade Nationwide Boys Basketball Participant of the 12 months on Wednesday.
The Duke commit acquired the award from former Blue Satan Paolo Banchero, a star on the Orlando Magic.
“It is simply an unbelievable honor to be included on this listing of gamers,” Flagg instructed Yahoo Sports activities concerning the award given to stars like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Jayson Tatum. “Simply seeing all of the arduous work repay and it motivates me to maintain getting higher and higher.”
Flagg is a 6-foot-1, 195-pound do-it-all wing who can rating in any respect three ranges, plus play elite protection with the dimensions and velocity to protect one by way of 5 and the power to dam pictures. He’s additionally a superb passer, exhibiting off his fashionable abilities at Montverde with averages of 16.1 factors, 7.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.7 blocks and 1.6 steals per recreation in his senior season.
“I acquired to know Cooper a little bit bit at Jayson’s camp,” Banchero instructed the Orlando Sentinel. “It is simply been wonderful to comply with his journey, and to current him with an award like that is nice for him and for me too.”
Montverde has been the clear No. 1 staff within the Tremendous 25 all season, behind Flagg and a bevy of five-star expertise round him. The Eagles are undefeated heading into the Chipotle Match in early April, having knocked off among the second-best groups within the nation.
Flagg was reclassified from 2025 to 2024 in August, shortly after dominating on the Nike EYBL Peach Jam, throughout which he averaged 25.4 factors, 13.0 rebounds, 6.9 blocks and 5.7 assists per recreation whereas a double-double posted three triple-doubles in all seven video games and recordings, all with factors, rebounds and blocks.
Because the projected prime choose of the category of 2025, he dedicated to Duke over UConn and Kansas. In an interview with SLAM Journal he talked concerning the resolution:
“I believe I actually began to really feel it after I acquired on Duke’s campus, to be trustworthy,” he says. “That is one thing the coaches actually emphasised to me: when you’re on campus, you need to really feel it. And [I knew then] I needed to go to Duke and I needed to play school basketball there. What went into the choice, I imply I used to be simply on the lookout for a training employees that I felt actually comfy with, however [also] a coach and employees who actually held me accountable. Throughout the go to I used to be in a position to see them in apply and see how they held their guys accountable and actually pushed them to be higher.
Montverde is making ready for the Chipotle Nationals basketball event, previously often called the GEICO Nationals, however Flagg has yet one more trophy to his title earlier than that begins:
He’s the 2023-2024 Gatorade Nationwide Boys Basketball Participant of the 12 months.