2023-24 was the second season for the head coach Jon Scheyer with the Duke Blue Devils. But, they failed to perform exceptionally well as Scheyer’s team was upset by 11th-seeded NC State in the Elite Eight. Therefore, coming into this season, they would want to get a perfect start especially since they have the 5-star commit Cooper Flagg who can change the fortune for them. However, Flagg hasn’t been able to perform well for the team till in the exhibition games, and Scheyer’s post-game press conference subtly points out that there are problems bigger than that.

On Monday after finishing the game against Arizona State, Scheyer confronted one key decision for the Duke Blue Devils, which showed that the team had many other things to look at apart from Flagg’s performance.

“Captains? We’re… we’re going to see. Yeah! We… we’ll see. okay. I will tell you those guys have done a terrific job with our team. Tyrese’s experience… his focus on a daily basis. Mason has brought such a great energy man. You know coming from Purdue… Despite the… all the mess-up coaching he gets from Painter… You know besides that… He’s… you know just being in that program. Though he… he’s wired in such a winning way. His energy… he’s so secure, he’s helped our young guys. He… he’s been… he’s been so good for us,” Scheyer stated during the postgame presser.

Last week when the Blue Devils played against the Lincoln Lions, the four-star recruit Mason Gillis shared the pregame captaincy duties with Tyrese Proctor. Gillis came to Scheyer’s mentorship after spending four seasons with the Purdue Boilermakers. Therefore, it came as a surprise when he was handed over the captaincy duties along with Proctor just before the game.

“I mean, I’m new here, so I don’t really know how that side of business goes. But, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really. Yes, it is cool to have that title, but we’re here to win games,” Gillis revealed after the game. Proctor and Gillis had helped the team win by a 107-56 margin and therefore, Scheyer was all praises for the duo. On the other hand, Proctor will be playing his third and junior year with the Blue Devils. Therefore, he has a fair bit of knowledge about how Scheyer operates who is also in his third year as coach. Meanwhile, Flagg hasn’t been performing his best right now.

Cooper Flagg’s performance raises concerns

While Flagg scored the team’s highest 22 points in the first game against the Lincoln Lions, he could only score 9 against Arizona State. Therefore, he hasn’t been able to live up to the expectations. In the second exhibition game, he could score none of the two three-pointers he attempted, and could only convert 3 of the 9 field goals he took. Therefore, this has raised serious concerns about his talent.

“You’re hearing people say, ‘Oh, he’s a generational talent.’ He’s not a generational talent. He’s hella good. He’s hella talented. There’s no doubt about that. But when I say, he’s not a Victor Wembanyama, he doesn’t belong in that LeBron. He doesn’t belong in those guys’ category, saying that he’s a generational talent, but he’s a hell of a player,” Randolph Childress stated in one of The Field Of 68: After Dark episodes recently.

Hence, the player who at one point in time this year, scored over LeBron James and Anthony Davis, is at present finding it difficult to prove his mettle. Hopefully, things will turn in his favor once the regular season starts. Till then fans can also give him some leniency since he is straight out of high school and needs time to adjust.