By CHARLIE PARENT
Cooper Flagg, a five-star in the class of 2025, was named the USA Basketball Male Player of the Year on Wednesday.
At 16, he is the the youngest player to ever win the award since its inception in 1980.
“It’s something that’s hard to earn, but he’s earned it,” USA Basketball Director of Youth and Sport Development Don Showalter said. “From training camp on, every day, he was just very consistent. And in the games, he was phenomenal.”
The 6-foot-8 forward rose to stardom with his performance in the U17 World Cup this summer where he averaged 9.3 points, 10 rebounds, 2.4 steals, and 2.9 blocks in a gold-medal run.
Flagg, who’s currently playing his sophomore season at Montverde Academy, currently holds Power 5 offers from Duke, UCLA, Michigan, West Virginia and Iowa.
He broke down each of his offers to ZAGSBLOG back in July:
Duke: “I have to see how Coach Scheyer handles stuff and how he coaches. I’ve watched them growing up.”
Michigan: “They’re hard coached and I’m looking forward to seeing how they play too. I’m going to keep watching them and see how it goes.”
UCLA: “They are a fast program that gets up and down in transition.”
West Virginia (which offered both Cooper and his brother Ace Flagg): “They have another hard coach that’s not going to let you take any plays off.”
Iowa: “Again, that’s a high-transition and good defensive team.”
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