Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer is preparing to welcome his second Mr. Basketball USA award winner and the program’s fourth in its history.
Wilt Chamberlain was the first Mr. Basketball USA recipient in 1955. All but two winners of the award since have gone on to play in the NBA, with the exception of 2025 Duke basketball recruit Cameron Boozer, a five-star forward and junior in high school who received the honor as a sophomore last year.
This year’s Mr. Basketball USA, presented by Ballislife.com on Friday, belongs to incoming five-star Blue Devil forward Cooper Flagg. He marks only the fourth Duke prize to ever wear that tag; that said, he’s the third to do so since 2018 and second of the Jon Scheyer era in Durham.
Duke’s total number of Mr. Basketball USA recipients could reach five if Cameron Boozer, the son of 2001 Blue Devil national champion Carlos Boozer, decides to commit to coach Jon Scheyer and his team.
Currently, Cooper Flagg joins fellow Montverde Academy (Fla.) alumni Dariq Whitehead (2022) and RJ Barrett (2018), along with DeMatha Catholic (Md.) legend Danny Ferry (1985), as Duke’s all-time Mr. Basketball USA honorees.
Eight of the esteemed 10 panelists voted for Cooper Flagg, a 6-foot-9, 200-pound phenom who ranks No. 1 overall on the 247Sports 2024 Composite and figures to be the centerpiece of the 2024-25 Blue Devils. The other first-place votes went to 2024 Rutgers signee and former long-time Duke basketball target Dylan Harper, a five-star guard out of Don Bosco Prep (N.J.).
