Cooper Flagg will likely finish his college hoops career without an NCAA championship.
The Duke standout freshman stole the spotlight in Saturday's 70-67 loss to Houston in the national semifinal of the men's NCAA tournament, finishing with a team-high 27 points along with seven rebounds and four assists.
But Flagg, who was on the unfortunate side of a late-game call and missed a potential game-winning shot, ended up walking away with the most bitter loss of his young career following the Cougars' odds-defying comeback. Flagg is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft and will leave Duke this summer after coming tantalizingly close of breaking the program's 10-year national title drought.
The 18-year-old was seen riding a golf cart with teammate Kon Knueppel in the Alamodome following Duke's Final Four defeat and had a sad and blank expression on his face:
Keep your head up, kid.