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The college basketball season got started on Monday night and day one already provided a ton of excitement as there are some good games going on. One game that everyone was excited to see was between the Duke basketball team and Maine. Doesn't sound like a very entertaining matchup, but that's not why people wanted to tune in. Everyone was eager to see the debut from Duke freshman Cooper Flagg. Flagg is expected to be a generational talent and he is also expected to be the number one pick in next year's NBA Draft.
We already have seen a lot of NBA fans on social media say that they want their team to tank to land Cooper Flagg. Teams near the bottom of the league know that there could be a silver lining if they have one of the worst records in the NBA this season. That's how you know that Flagg is a star.
The Duke basketball team has a lot of one-and-done players come through their program. These are guys that come and play for one season, and then they head to the NBA. The Blue Devils are one of the best college basketball programs of all time, so they always land a lot of top recruits. These guys are the best of the best, so they are NBA ready when they get to college. That is the case with Flagg. He is going to be going pro barring something bizarre.
Flagg made his Duke basketball debut on Monday night, and he did not disappoint. This obviously wasn't against a very difficult opponent, but it was still Flagg's first ever college basketball game, and he looked good.
As expected, Flagg earned a starting spot for Duke and played for 30 minutes on Monday night. He finished 6-15 from the floor and he was 0-4 from deep, ending the game with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Flagg didn't have his best shooting performance, but he still was able to drop nearly 20 points.
It's going to be fun to watch the way that Flagg grows throughout this season. There was obviously a ton of pressure on him coming into this game as he is expected to be a superstar, and there will be a lot of pressure on him throughout the season. Still, he found a way to have a solid showing during his debut.
Flagg and Duke cruised to a win against Maine as the final score was 96-62. This one was never expected to be close as the Blue Devils were favored by 32.5 points, and they narrowly covered that spread as they won by 34.
This game was close for about five minutes as Maine was able to trade baskets in the early parts of the game, but after that, it was all Duke. An early 14-0 run by the Blue Devils put them up big, and they never looked back. Maine actually did a good job of hanging around in the first half as they kept it around a 10-point game for awhile, and they were able to get it down to eight in the second half.
Maine hung around for a little bit, but they never got it close enough to actually make anyone at Cameron Indoor nervous. The Blue Devils had another nice scoring run early on in the second half, and that grew their lead to over 20. Maine never sniffed any comeback attempt after that, and Duke cruised to the finish line.
It's hard to get a good understanding of what the team is like when you're going up against a team like Maine, but the Duke basketball team took care of business on Monday night. Cooper Flagg played a good game, and the 7th ranked Blue Devils improved to 1-0. It's going to be fun to watch Flagg and this Duke team all season long.
College basketball season preview
There was a lot of action around the college basketball world on Monday night as a lot of top teams opened up play, not just Cooper Flagg and the Duke basketball team. There were countless games on Monday as the action started at 11 AM, and there will be games going into Tuesday morning as well. It's been a fun first day of the season, and this should be a fun year. Let's take a look at who some of the best teams in the country are this season.
Starting in the ACC, there are just two ranked teams to start the season, which is a bit of a surprise. This conference is usually loaded with good talent, and there are bound to be some more teams that emerge as contenders. The two teams that are ranked to start the year are #7 Duke and #9 North Carolina, the two in-state rivals. The Blue Devils and Tar Heels both started their seasons with wins.
Moving over to the Big Ten, there are four ranked teams to start the year in the first season in which the conference has 18 teams. Those teams are #14 Purdue, #17 Indiana, #25 Rutgers and #22 UCLA. The Boilermakers are the favorite, but they struggled on opening night. This conference seems pretty open.
The Big East has three ranked teams to start the year, and one that everyone will be watching is #3 UConn. The Huskies have won the last two national championships, and they are hungry for number three. #15 Creighton and #18 Marquette are also in the top-25, and they are hoping to dethrone the Huskies.
One conference that could end up being the best in college basketball is the Big 12. This conference was elite from top to bottom last year, and it's going to be impressive once again. The Big 12 has six ranked teams to start the year as #20 Cincinnati, #4 Houston, #5 Iowa State, #1 Kansas, #10 Arizona and #8 Baylor are all ranked. Five teams in the top ten. That is impressive.
The conference with the most ranked teams to start the year is the SEC as they have nine ranked teams. #23 Kentucky, #12 Tennessee, #2 Alabama, #16 Arkansas, #11 Auburn, #21 Florida, #24 Ole Miss, #19 Texas and #13 Texas A&M are all ranked to start the year. This conference is going to be incredibly fun to watch.
College basketball is back! Buckle up and enjoy the season, folks.
