The dance finally ended with the Cooper Flag, and Duke was removed from the NCAA Tournament.
In a spectacular and painful fashion, the 18-year-old sense collapsed under the bright light of the college hoops as he and Duke endured a brutal 70-67 loss against Houston in the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Final Four.
The Cooper Flag and the Blue Devils led at 14 for their right to enter the title stage, and slowly witnessed their championship dreams in the final eight minutes as the Cougars began their ferocious rally.
Houston, carrying 26 markers from LJ Cryer, stamped his ticket to the final round against Florida. Flag’s Game High 27 Markers and later-game heroic attempts were not enough to lift Duke out of the meltdown.
Once the dream season with Duke reaches its end, many are awaiting future entries for Flag to the NBA draft board.
Heading into the final four rounds, Flag had a special opportunity to temporarily witness first-class tissue treatment from the San Antonio Spurs.
As San Antonio acts as the site for this year’s Final Four, the Spurs are generous enough to provide Flag and Duke with the necessary preparations for their high stakes games, allowing the Victory Capital Performance Center Practice facility to be used.
The Flag and the Blue Devils also received solid receptions from San Antonio, while offering a glimpse of the city’s rich culture and hospitality, offering a taste of a top-class basketball clinic and a solid reception from San Antonio. Flag was also approached by Spurs legend David Robinson. He visited during one of his practice sessions.
Ahead of the weekend game against Houston, Flag expressed interesting words about his experience around the Spurs training facility and his warm welcome in San Antonio before his final four games.
“It’s beautiful,” Flag said at the last four press conferences. “It’s a beautiful place.
“I enjoy the weather and everything. Just being here, it’s a beautiful city. The Spurs facility, obviously it’s very new, very modern.
“It’s a beautiful facility, it’s a great facility, it’s the top of the Notch facility and what they have there.
“So it was a great, wonderful place.”
Spurs fans certainly hope that Stars will land on San Antonio and form a major one-two punch combination with Victor Wembanyama, conquering the entire NBA for years to come.
The incredible combination of size, talent and possibilities is predicted to make Flagg the overall pick for No. 1 in this year’s NBA Draft. The Spurs organization only asked, once again, to have another generation of luck, by being able to put young geniuses on their side.
After Wembanyama’s thrombotic diagnosis and De’aaron Fox’s end-of-season surgery, Spurs took a step back from trying to compete. With the 32-45 card, it is currently ranked 13th in the Western Conference Ladder.
Through Tankathon, they have the eighth best odds to win the lottery and win the overall choice (6.0%).
They can pray to recreate the wealth the Atlanta Hawks have earned since last year. There, they will win the No. 1 overall pick despite a low 3% chance and ultimately use it to select French prospect Zaccharie Risacher.
With the NBA Draft Lottery set in Chicago on May 12th, spurs can find a way to cross their fingers and catch the flag.