Duke's Cooper Flagg to Play in 2025 NCAA Tournament Opener After Ankle Injury

One of the biggest question marks heading into the 2025 NCAA men's basketball tournament was the health of Duke star Cooper Flagg after he missed most of the ACC tournament with an ankle injury, and the Blue Devils provided a positive update Thursday.

No. 1 Duke announced Flagg is available for Friday's first-round showdown against No. 16 Mount St. Mary's:

Flagg told reporters he believes he will be 100 percent after practicing in full on Wednesday. 

It was easy to speculate that the Blue Devils might not play Flagg in the first round since they are expected to cruise past the No. 16 seed in the East Region.

However, head coach Jon Scheyer indicated Sunday during an appearance on ESPN that the hope was the star freshman would play Friday.

"From my perspective, it's full steam ahead," Scheyer said. "I want to get Coop back as quickly as we can, and he wants to do the same. Obviously, tomorrow is important. Today was an off day, we got back late (from the ACC tournament). We are hoping he can start to progress starting tomorrow with doing some on-court work and then build up to where he can practice later in the week.

"Our goal is for Friday. No question about it."

Mission accomplished given Thursday's update, which is troubling news for a Mount St. Mary's team hoping to pull off a shocking upset.

Flagg was the ACC Player of the Year while averaging 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks per game and shooting 48.8 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from deep. 

He does a little bit of everything on the floor and can attack off the bounce, hit from long range, anchor the defense and facilitate when defenders come his way. He is widely expected to be the No. 1 overall pick of the 2025 NBA draft and will have the chance to perform in front of a national audience throughout the Big Dance.

Duke still won the ACC tournament with victories over North Carolina and Virginia after Flagg suffered the injury against Georgia Tech, but the Blue Devils are far better suited to compete for a national title if their star is healthy and on the floor.