Before breakfast, a quick stop at the driving range.
It may seem trivial that hitting a bucket of balls was Jon Scheyer’s priority on the last morning of Cooper Flagg’s official visit to Duke — Oct. 22, 2023. But the coach wanted one final one-on-one window with the nation’s No. 1 recruit, and he’d come to learn how much the Newport, Maine, native appreciated golf. In fact, amid Flagg’s meteoric rise to becoming arguably the top NBA prospect in America, the high schooler often found reprieve in playing 18 at Fogg Brook Resort, the local course near his childhood home.
Scheyer came to know nearly everything about Flagg and his family during the recruiting process. From the first time he saw Flagg play live, courtside at a grassroots game, Scheyer was convinced the 6-foot-9 forward was the type of generational talent worth building a roster around. The type that has Duke and Flagg, who has emerged as college basketball’s best player, two games from a national title as the Final Four begins Saturday in San Antonio.
So Scheyer went all in on building the relationship necessary to land such a transcendent recruit. But with Flagg on campus, the coach needed to nail his final impression.
As they hit balls behind the Washington Duke Inn, Scheyer secretly hoped that Flagg might tip his hand. Instead, the teenager kept quiet. After about half an hour, they dropped their clubs and walked to a private dining room. Flagg’s parents, Kelly and Ralph, plus Duke general manager Rachel Baker, were already there waiting at a table for five.
Then, midway through breakfast, Flagg dropped the bomb: Actually, he had decided.
He was coming to Duke.
“I cried,” Scheyer told The Athletic, thinking back on the morning that changed the trajectory of his program. “I’m not ashamed to admit it.”
Hoopla ensued. More tears. Celebratory screams. Eventually, Scheyer busted Flagg for keeping his cards so close to his vest: “I’m like, dude, I was just with you for 30 minutes, and you didn’t say anything!”
Flagg’s connection with Scheyer ultimately sold him. Eighteen months later, it’s that same tie between the Blue Devils’ two leading men that has the program approaching college hoops history, starting with fellow No. 1 seed Houston in the Alamodome.
“(Cooper) knew that moment,” Kelly said. “He knew, and he’s never looked back. He’s been so sure of his decision from day one, and he and Jon are in this together. They really are.”
Duke coach Jon Scheyer and star freshman Cooper Flagg formed a connection that could lead Duke to another national title. (C. Morgan Engel / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
A few months ago, scrolling through some old photos, Kelly stumbled upon her son’s Christmas wishlist from when he was in the fourth grade.
With the gift of hindsight, it couldn’t be more on the nose: A Jayson Tatum jersey, a Duke blanket, a Duke necktie and Duke socks.
Like mother, like son.
“He was a Duke fan because I was,” Kelly added, “and so he didn’t really have a choice in the matter.”
But that Duke predisposition did not guarantee he would become a Blue Devils star. It was still up to Scheyer — amid his transition from assistant coach to Mike Krzyzewski’s successor — to convince Flagg and his family that Duke was the program that would best prepare him for the NBA and squeeze everything out of his one year in college.
Scheyer first saw Flagg play at Nike’s Peach Jam in 2022, upon a recommendation from longtime Boston Celtics center Brian Scalabrine, who had watched a 13-year-old Flagg dominate college players in an open gym setting. “I remember watching him and saying, Scal was right,” Scheyer said. “Took me about 90 seconds (to realize it).”
NCAA rules prohibit how early college coaches can contact prospective recruits, though, so Scheyer started to build his relationship with Flagg indirectly — through Kelly. Because Flagg’s mother was one of his Maine United coaches, college coaches were permitted to contact Kelly before they ever got close to her son. “We started building a relationship,” Kelly said, “and that foundation, I think, really helped so that when he was able to start having conversations with Cooper, he was a little more comfortable.”
On the first night college coaches were permitted to reach out to players, during the summer between Flagg’s freshman and sophomore seasons, Kelly and Ralph remember the high-profile names they saw pop up on their phones: Bill Self, John Calipari.
“But Jon’s call,” Kelly said, “was definitely one that I was hoping for.”
There were two differences between Scheyer and some of those other coaches. The first was that, according to Flagg, Scheyer didn’t flatly praise his game.
“Something that stuck out to me the whole time was his honesty,” Flagg said. “Coach was always really honest with me with his vision, what he saw — I mean, he’d even critique some of my games that he came and watched. That’s the sort of thing I looked for.”
And secondly? Scheyer had “walked this road” before, in Kelly’s words. The 37-year-old hadn’t just played at Duke; he’d taken the Blue Devils where Flagg hoped to lead his future school: a national championship.
To that point, Scheyer will become just the eighth man ever to play and coach in a Final Four, joining Dean Smith, Bob Knight, Billy Donovan, Hubert Davis, Vic Bubas, Bones McKinney and Dick Harp. And should Duke cut down the nets on Monday night, he’d be the first to win it all as a player and coach at his alma mater.
Throughout his recruitment, Flagg rarely told his parents what he was thinking, one way or another. Kelly remembers Scheyer telling her he’d talked to Flagg a week ago, wondering if he’d said anything about their conversation.
Nada.
“Cooper’s pretty tight-lipped about all that stuff,” Kelly said. “I did some interference as far as scheduling times with coaches when I knew he’d be available, but he very maturely spoke with them himself and vetted who he liked or didn’t.”
Eventually, Flagg narrowed his finalists to two: Duke and UConn, the reigning national champs.
Flagg and his family visited UConn first before traveling to Durham in October 2023. They attended the program’s preseason event, Countdown to Craziness, on Friday night before settling in for the rest of the weekend.
And while breakfast on Sunday was when Flagg officially gave his verbal commitment, his parents say there was another previously unreported moment on Saturday when they had a feeling that might be coming.
During a meeting with Krzyzewski, in the Hall of Fame coach’s sixth-floor office overlooking Cameron Indoor Stadium, Flagg turned to Kelly and Ralph … and winked.
“He said something that really resonated with Cooper in his heart,” Kelly said, without revealing the specifics. “That was kind of the moment, the nail in the coffin, where I’m pretty sure he made up his mind.”
After Duke lost to NC State in the Elite Eight last postseason, Scheyer knew he needed to make serious roster changes to get his program over the hump. The exodus came in the form of seven Blue Devils transferring out. Four were former five-star recruits, and two had been every-game starters.
In their absence, Scheyer rebuilt his team around the talents of his incoming 17-year-old star.
“Look, you know Cooper is going to be a big-time, impact player,” Scheyer said. “Do you know he’s going to be national player of the year? You hope — but you don’t know. So our team had to change.”
In perhaps the strongest show of Scheyer’s faith in Flagg, Duke’s third-year coach rebuilt his rotation around Flagg and even consulted with his family.
“He told us where he was looking and who he was thinking about, and even asked our thoughts on it at times,” Ralph said. “We never really doubted Jon one bit that way, I don’t think. He was always honest.”
That honesty has carried over onto the court, despite Flagg’s spectacular freshman season that has seen him gobble up nearly every national award and Duke lose only once since Thanksgiving (despite some early lumps in nonconference losses to Kentucky and Kansas). He’s leading Duke in all five major statistical categories — the first freshman to do so while leading his team to the NCAA Tournament. He poured in 30 points in a complete performance against Arizona in the Sweet 16. He’s only the second player ever — joining former Duke legend Grant Hill, arguably the best player the school has ever produced — to average 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the postseason entering the Final Four.
And yet, Scheyer doesn’t treat the soon-to-be No. 1 pick any differently than he does the last man on the bench.
The proof? Rewind the tape on Duke’s Elite Eight victory over No. 2 Alabama, in which Flagg struggled more than usual. Yes, he scored 16 points … but on 16 shots; he also had more turnovers (four) than he’s had in nearly two months. Per KenPom, it was Flagg’s worst full-game offensive rating all season. Which is why during one second-half timeout, after Flagg settled for an elbow jumper (and missed) instead of driving to the cup, Scheyer lit into him: “I need you to be tougher,” he barked, looking Flagg directly in the eyes.
“You get all over him, and he takes it,” Scheyer said. “He’s been amazing to coach because he’s not above anything. And I think with him, he’s as loyal of a person as you’ll ever be around. So once you’re in with him, you’re in.”
Scheyer is.
Earlier this season, a grade-schooler whose father works in printing attended a game at Cameron Indoor and gifted Kelly two custom shirts featuring pictures of her son. One of them, in black, Kelly wore to the Elite Eight. But the other, in white, she had re-gifted to Scheyer’s wife, Marcelle — only for Scheyer’s middle child, Jett, to claim it as his own. So despite it being 10 sizes too large, there Jett was in Newark, N.J., drowning in his Cooper Flagg shirt, waving to the Blue Devils — and Flagg, especially — as they departed their hotel for the arena.
At most, Scheyer and Flagg have two games left together. Eighty minutes, tops. Scheyer did his star freshman a favor last weekend in Newark, finally throwing cold water on the delusional hypothetical that Flagg might do anything but declare for the NBA Draft at season’s end: “That’s going to happen, as it should.”
For Scheyer, landing Flagg has been an identity-confirmer. It cemented him as more than just Krzyzewski’s successor but one of the best coaches in the sport. And for Flagg, committing to Scheyer has been what he needed: a coach who would hold him accountable and help him improve.
There’s no better stage than the Final Four — and only the second time all four No. 1 seeds made the final weekend — for Scheyer and Flagg to show off the fruits of their relationship. Like he did against Arizona, when he almost single-handedly shoved the Blue Devils into the Elite Eight, Flagg has shown the capability to carry Duke in a crucible. Good thing, because that’s what it will take to defeat two top seeds in San Antonio and hang the program’s sixth national championship banner.
Duke is on the precipice of doing just that, like Flagg and Scheyer dreamed about many months ago.
Well worth a grown man’s tears, don’t you think?
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Vincent Carchietta / Imagn Images, Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
