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Bruce Pearl comments on Cooper Flagg injury: ‘That’s a huge, huge hit’
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Bruce Pearl commented on Cooper Flagg’s ankle injury during an appearance on SEC Network on Thursday afternoon.
Pearl joined the halftime show of the Arkansas vs. Ole Miss game and was asked about the possible impact of Flagg’s injury for the Blue Devils. Pearl highlighted Flagg’s talent as an individual player and speculated that he could miss time in the NCAA Tournament based on how the injury looked.
“Duke is a deep team. Jon Scheyer is a great coach. Cooper Flagg impacts winning on both ends of the floor. I mean, that’s a huge, huge hit. I don’t like the way he came down. The fact that he was in the air and landed on that thing and rolled it over there pretty good,” Pearl said. “My guess is … he won’t be available for the 1st round [of the NCAA Tournament]. Duke is good enough to advance without him, though.”
Pearl was also drawing on experience when he made those comments, citing that his Auburn team was without Johni Broome for “a couple of weeks” earlier this season due to an ankle injury.
It’s perhaps a bit early to speculate on how much time Flagg could miss, but early indications aren’t promising. Duke coach Jon Scheyer said in his postgame press conference that it’s a “long shot” for Flagg to play again during the ACC Tournament.
Of course, the Blue Devils are more concerned about his status for March Madness. Flagg is arguably the best player in the country and is critical to Duke’s chances of winning the National Championship. For what it’s worth, the betting markets — so far — have not dinged Duke too much with regards to its national title odds. At. BetMGM, Duke is still +375 to win the whole thing. That’s 2nd only to Auburn at +325.
Duke will face the winner of North Carolina vs. Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament semifinals on Friday.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
