College basketball fans weren't pleased with the bling Duke superstar guard Cooper Flagg wore in Duke's ACC Tournament final game against Louisville on Saturday night at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Flagg, whose NIL value is pegged at $4.8 million (per On3), was sporting iced-out chains with the No. 32 hanging in the middle for the winner-take-all encounter where the Blue Devils won without him 73-62. The No. 1 freshman in the Class of 2024 wore the No. 32 jersey when he played for Montverde Academy in high school.
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Some basketball fans showed displeasure with Flagg's bling for the day, with one user describing it as:
"Dumbest trend. Gaudy a** jewelry."
Another fan shared a photo to describe his honest reaction on the new jewelry the injured Flagg sported for the ACC Tournament finale.
Other fans posted negative takes on the 6-foot-9 freshman's chosen accessory for the Duke-Louisville clash.
"What a prick," a college hoops fan reacted.
"Coop is a w1gger," a user added.
"Wigger idiot," a basketball enthusiast opined.
"All this hype just to lose in the sweet 16……," a fan wrote.
"Getting eliminated in the round of 32?," one user asked.
"Nothing truly a shirt," a social media follower observed.
Duke, however, proved it can beat Louisville without its prized freshman. Jon Scheyer's men limited the Cardinals to 24 points in the second half and unloaded 40 points to pull off a come-from-behind win.
Cooper Flagg-less Duke shows depth in ACC Tournament
Duke proved they can win games with Cooper Flagg sitting on the sidelines. The Blue Devils played more than 2 1/2 games without their prized guard/forward and still beat Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Louisville in the 2025 ACC Tournament to secure a regular season-tournament double.
It also assured the Jon Scheyer-coached team an automatic bid for the 2025 NCAA Tournament. In the championship game against the Cardinals, tournament Most Valuable Player Kon Knueppel finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.
The 6-foot-7 forward misfired from deep, missing all his five 3-point attempts. However, he went 6-of-7 from 2-pointers and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line and tallied eight rebounds, three rebounds and two assists in 38 minutes.
Knueppel was picked tournament MVP on averages of 21 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists in three games. But other players stepped up to fill the void left by Flagg.
Tyrese Proctor led Duke's scorers with 19 points on six 3-pointers and Sion James added 15 points, six rebounds and two assists. Seven-foot-two center Khaman Maluach had eight points and 10 rebounds while Patrice Ngongba II contributed seven points, two rebounds and three blocks.
The good news is Cooper Flagg will be back in the NCAA Tournament, but their ACC Tournament conquest proves they deserve one of the four No. 1 seeds in the regional tournaments that begin on March 20.
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