March Madness 2025: Top 5 reasons Cooper Flagg's Duke won't advance past Caleb Love's Arizona

The Duke Blue Devils, led by Cooper Flagg, are aiming for their sixth national championship in the 2024-25 season. The school, despite its storied history, has not reached the mountaintop of men's college basketball since 2015.

Now under the tutelage of Jon Scheyer, since legendary tactician Mike Krzyzewski retired back in 2022, the team has a dominant 33-3 overall record, 19-1 during conference play, this season.

They've blitzed through the first two rounds of this year's March Madness, triumphing in both fixtures by a significant double-digit amount. Now, they will have the fourth-seeded Arizona Wildcats, led by senior Caleb Love, as their Sweet 16 matchup on Thursday.

Despite many onlookers predicting that the Blue Devils will pull off the victory and advance to the Elite Eight, let's take a look at five reasons how the Wildcats could upset Flagg and company.

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Five reasons why Cooper Flagg's Duke won't advance past Caleb Love's Arizona in the 2025 Sweet 16

#1 Defense

As they have done throughout the campaign, the Arizona Wildcats could topple the Duke Blue Devils due to their pesky perimeter defense and stifling inside presence.

On the year, the Wildcats are averaging more steals and blocks a game than the Blue Devils, with 7.7 and 4.3, respectively, as opposed to their opponents' 6.9 and 3.8 per contest. Perhaps one way to stop Duke's spitfire offense is for Arizona to wreak havoc by forcing turnovers and then altering shots inside by Cooper Flagg.

#2 Experience

As it stands, the Wildcats are led by Caleb Love, who is a fifth-year standout, along with junior Jaden Bradley and fellow senior Trey Townsend. Most of Arizona's key cogs have huge amounts of experience in the biggest stages of college basketball. This is highlighted by Love's career-defining run when he was a North Carolina Tar Heel in the 2022 national tournament.

#3 Familiar foe

Love had a phenomenal 2022 March Madness stint when he defeated the then-Mike Krzyzewski-coached Blue Devils in the NCAA Final Four when he was still with the Tar Heels.

He had a 28-point outing as his eighth-seeded UNC team upset the top seed in Duke. Another solid performance against those in the blue and white could see Flagg and company leave the Big Dance on Thursday.

#4 Possible one-man show

With the generational talent he possesses, Flagg has led the Blue Devils in the five main statistical categories this season despite just being a first-year swingman.

While it's clear that Duke could have the upper hand with their talent, if Flagg's teammates don't show up like they did in the ACC tournament finale, his efforts might not be enough on gameday.

#5 Rebounding disparity

Alluding to the aforementioned point, Flagg is posting team-high averages in the five main statistical departments, including rebounding. As a whole, the Blue Devils have rebounded the ball 1,313 times collectively this season. This is 33 less than Arizona's total, which currently sits at 1,346, led by forward Tobe Awaka's 8.0 average per contest.

With other members of the Tommy Lloyd-coached team focusing their strengths on securing possessions, this works well for the likes of Love who can thrive and stick to their scoring, producing an overall balanced team effort that may determine the victor.