### BREAKING: Cooper Flagg Is Your 2025-26 National Player of the Year – And History Has No Comparison
**DURHAM, N.C. – 11:59 p.m. ET, March 15, 2026** – The Athletic is prepared to call it with three regular-season games still to play: Duke freshman Cooper Flagg is the 2025-26 consensus National Player of the Year, and the numbers, the eye test, and the historical record all agree on one thing: there has never been a season quite like this one.
Not Wooden in ’67. Not Jordan in ’84. Not Zion in ’19. Not anyone.
Flagg, the 19-year-old from Newport, Maine, officially clinched every major award tonight when No. 2 Duke destroyed Virginia 94-68 in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Senior Night-that-wasn’t-really-Senior-Night (because literally no one is a senior). He finished with 38 points, 14 rebounds, 8 assists, 6 blocks, and 4 steals in 34 minutes, becoming the first player in the shot-clock era to post a 38-14-8-6-4 line in a college game.
The final stat line flashed on the jumbotron and the building went silent for three full seconds before erupting into the loudest “Cooooooooop” chant in Cameron history.
Then the graphic dropped:
Cooper Flagg – 2025-26 season averages
31.8 points
12.4 rebounds
5.9 assists
4.1 blocks
3.7 steals
58.2% FG
44.1% 3PT (4.8 made per game)
89.0% FT
42.2 PER
.312 win shares per 40
+28.8 plus-minus per 100 possessions
Those numbers are not typos.
He is leading the country in scoring, blocks, and PER while ranking top-5 in rebounding, steals, and three-point percentage. No player in the KenPom era (since 1997) has ever finished a season top-5 in points, rebounds, blocks, and steals per game. Flagg is on pace to become the first.
Tonight’s performance also made him the fastest player to 1,000 points, 400 rebounds, 150 assists, 150 blocks, and 100 steals in a single season. It took him 31 games.
**The Moment It Became Official**
With 4:11 left in the second half, Flagg blocked Virginia All-American Ryan Dunn at the rim, sprinted the length of the floor, took a Tyrese Proctor outlet, rose from the free-throw line, and threw down a one-handed windmill that shattered the backboard support bracket. The game was delayed 19 minutes while crews replaced the entire stanchion. When play resumed, Jon Scheyer simply laughed on the sideline and said loud enough for press row to hear: “We’re not fixing that one. Leave it broken.”
**The Awards That Are Already Locked**
– The Athletic National POY
– AP National POY (projected 99 of 100 first-place votes)
– Naismith Player of the Year (announced tomorrow)
– Wooden Award (finalist + 97% of mock ballots)
– Oscar Robertson Trophy
– ACC Player of the Year (will win by the largest margin ever recorded)
– ACC Defensive Player of the Year (first player ever to win both in the same season)
– ACC Freshman of the Year (obviously)
**The Historical Comparisons That Don’t Work**
Zion Williamson’s 2018-19 season is the closest modern analog, but even that falls short:
Zion: 22.6 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 2.1 apg, 2.1 spg, 3.0 bpg (adjusted per-100)
Flagg: 37.8 ppg, 14.8 rpg, 7.0 apg, 4.4 spg, 4.9 bpg (per-100)
Bill Walton’s 1973 season at UCLA: 20.4 ppg, 15.7 rpg, 5.0 bpg – but only 1.2 spg and 1.2 apg
Anthony Davis 2012: 14.2 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 4.7 bpg – but 1.4 spg and 1.3 apg
Even prime Kevin Durant at Texas (25.8 ppg) never averaged a triple-double in the other categories.
KenPom’s database has exactly zero players in 28 years who averaged 30+ points, 4+ blocks, and 3+ steals. Flagg is doing it while shooting 44% from three on nearly five attempts per game.
**The Night It Became Inevitable**
It actually happened three weeks ago in Chapel Hill.
Down 11 with 8:30 left against No. 1 UNC and Caleb Wilson, Flagg scored 19 straight Duke points, blocked Wilson three times in four possessions, and finished with 51 points, 21 rebounds, 10 assists, 7 blocks, and 5 steals in a 104-101 overtime win. It was the first 50-20-10 game in ACC history. Caleb Wilson, the supposed co-freshman phenom, fouled out trying to guard him with 2:11 left in regulation and just shook his head walking back to the locker room.
After that game, UNC coach Hubert Davis was asked about Flagg and said simply: “There’s levels to this. And he’s on one nobody else has ever been on.”
**The NBA Scouts Who Have Stopped Pretending**
One Western Conference GM told The Athletic tonight: “We’re not even scouting him anymore. We’re just watching. The draft is over. It’s been over since November.”
Flagg is projected to be the No. 1 pick in June 2026 by a margin never seen before: 100% of mock drafts, 0% debate. The Mavericks, owners of Dallas’s pick via the old Luka trade, are already openly tanking the rest of their season.
**The Quote That Will Follow Him Forever**
After tonight’s game, a reporter asked Flagg if he felt he had done enough to be the best player in college basketball history.
He paused for eight full seconds, looked straight into the camera, and said:
“I’m not done yet.”
Then he walked out.
**The Record Book That Is Already Crying**
Most 40-point games by a freshman all-time: 9 (Flagg)
Most 30-point games by a freshman: 21 (Flagg)
Most games with 5+ blocks and 5+ steals: 11 (Flagg)
Highest single-season PER ever recorded: 42.2 (Flagg)
Duke’s all-time single-season scoring record: 1,018 points (JJ Redick, 2005-06) – Flagg has 1,049 with three games left.
**The Final Verdict**
Cooper Flagg is not the best freshman season we’ve ever seen.
He is not the most dominant freshman season we’ve ever seen.
He is, objectively and unarguably, the greatest individual season any college basketball player has ever had.
And he still has the ACC Tournament and (at least) four NCAA Tournament games left.
Buckle up.
National Player of the Year: Cooper Flagg, Duke
Runner-up: whoever’s in second place
Third place: history
*(Word count: 1,024)*
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