Freshman sensation Cooper Flagg led the Blue Devils past George Mason 68-47 on Tuesday. The game followed the same blueprint seen during Duke’s now five-game winning streak, with Jon Scheyer leaning on Flagg to deliver again, which he duly did. While the projected No. 1 Draft prospect has been undeniably good, for Duke to develop a championship-winning team, more strength across the board might be needed.

Though the reliance on Flagg has bore fruits, as seen in his performance against George Mason where he notched up 24 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block, it has also backfired at times. This was evident in just the third game of the season against Kentucky. In the final moments of the game at the State Farm Arena, with Duke trailing, Scheyer turned to Flagg and the 17-year-old duly obliged with a shot that tied the game. But as the game restarted, Kentucky wing, Otega Oweh stayed back to mark Flagg and eventually ripped the ball out of Flagg’s grasp as Duke was pushing for a winner. After the game, Scheyer acknowledged he could have done things better. 

Back in November, following their win against Wofford, HC Scheyer said that Duke has “11 good players.” The Duke fans would have loved nothing more than to see 11 players capable of going through rotation without it drastically affecting the team, especially after the 2024 season when the lack of a quality bench lineup derailed their campaign. As such, the over-reliance on Flagg could be alarming, at least according to sports analyst Tim Donelly.

Donelly addressed this on Wednesday, in a YouTube video on the 99.9 The Fan channel. He emphasized how Flagg has dominated the Duke team; in the last game, he took more than 35% of the total shots that were taken in the game. While he said that the issue wasn’t exactly a “red flag” he put it just a level below as a “yellow caution flag.”

“A yellow caution flag that popped up during the George Mason game and it’s something that I’ve noticed a few times. I’ve said on air a few times there might be a bit of an over-dependence on Cooper Flagg, it’s a caution flag. Because if you’re gonna depend on somebody the number one recruit, overwhelming favorite to be the next number one draft pick is a good one to be like overly dependent on right? It’s youknow our pass game isn’t great so we have to lean on the run a lot.”

Donelly then shared the example of how the NFL side Philadelphia Eagles operates with running back Saquon Barkley drawing parallels with Duke and Flagg. He then pointed out how well Flagg did against George Mason in terms of points and assists but had a concern. “The thing that that kind of kind of jumped out to me he was 7 for 20 shooting. Now I don’t mind a shooter shooting. I don’t mind ‘hey if I’m cold, I’m going to shoot my way out of this,’ I don’t mind that. The issue I have is they only took 56 shots as a team he took over 35% of their team shots to get those 24 points.”

Isaiah Evans, a freshman sharpshooter, may be a key to solving this problem. But against George Mason Evans played a total of 15 minutes against George Mason, dropping 9 points, compared to the 35 minutes given to Flagg. Flagg and fellow freshmen Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach have been the go-to players in the starting lineup from day one but others have been in and out due to their inconsistencies or simply because coach

Scheyer isn’t willing to change the way they play.

Evans, center Patrick Ngongba II, and freshman guard Darren Harris have shown they can hold their own but their game time has been limited. Notably, in the defeat against Kentucky, none of these three freshmen played a single minute.

Donelly also said that the other players need to step up big-time and deliver for Duke in the coming weeks in case, there is a dip in Flagg’s performances.

“If there’s a night where he’s just off, but then if there’s a point like turn around and go ‘hey we got other guys toscore we got all these five stars around me.’ We brought back Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster for a reason, we went to the transfer portal of these guys for a reason. Kon Knueppel was 0 for four from three. Khaman Maluach scored six points on six free throws, 0 for one from the field.When Cooper Flagg is having a day where he’s going to shoot seven for 20, I would like for the other high pedigree players to have better days than they had especially against George Mason.”

After

Jon Scheyer took over as Duke’s head coach in 2022 following the legendary Mike Krzyzewski, he’s already shown promise. Scheyer led the team to the NCAA Round of 32 and an Elite Eight appearance during his tenure. This season, the Blue Devils are well on their way to living up to fan’s dreams of another championship title, something that Duke hasn’t seen in nearly a decade. But despite their impressive record, their ACC supremacy may not last long if the game plan is only about turning to Flagg in clutch situations.

Evans particularly, is a glancing roll into the bottom of the world’s best shooters, and Donelly believes “numbers are going to force Jon Scheyer to play him.” He has also received praise from Flagg who talked about how he performed in the game against George Mason.

Cooper Flagg praises Evans after the George Mason win

After the match against Mason, Flagg himself praised Evans saying, “He just opens up the floor so well with his ability to just come off screens, set his feet, and knock down shots. He’s such a skilled player in that way. He can do so much—drive it, shoot it, and his defense has come along really well this year.” Evans has proved himself a reliable scorer in limited minutes. The 6-foot-6 guard averages 8.7 points per game while shooting a scorching 50% from three-point range. 

Georgia Tech is next for Duke, and it is a chance to roll some momentum and incorporate Evans better into their game plan. With a chance to dominate the ACC and reassert themselves nationally, the Blue Devils need to be able to develop a more balanced offense.

The good news is that Flagg is not going anywhere, but Scheyer will have to develop a way to incorporate his best players in the system so that they can deal with what is to come and perhaps not fall short of their goals due to a single-minded approach.