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How is Christian Laettner taking all the Cooper Flagg waving?
Over the last 60 years, the former Duke superstar was the best college basketball player east of UCLA, which won five national championships behind Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton.
Laettner had it all, and he was even good for the Carolina-Duke rivalry when Mike Krzyzewski caught Dean Smith in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. There was his bloody battle with Tar Heel sophomore Eric Montross in 1992 when Laettner made perhaps Duke’s most famous shot against Kentucky on the way to national player of the year and a second NCAA championship.
He could have turned pro after winning the Blue Devils’ first national title in 1991, but he was considered a “tweener” in the eyes of pro scouts and turned out to be too small to play in the pivot, using his outside shooting to become an NBA all-star.
And when he announced he was staying for his senior year, he surpassed Dick Groat and Art Heyman as the most famous Blue Devils of all time and to this day a legendary player.
Laettner was discovered in upstate New York by Coach K, and by the time the recruiting battle commenced he was headed for Duke. He was a handsome, tough white kid who became a matinee idol for fans and screeching girls waiting for him to get off the bus wherever.
If Flagg wins the national championship – and it is still a mighty big if – he will never be remembered in the long run like Laettner, who played in four straight Final Fours and won twice. Flagg is a fabulous college star with a boyish demeanor who still has to prove himself as a pro against bigger bodies and meatier men, but whatever happens he will be a fleeting memory.
He is the poster child for how the college game has changed after growing up in rural Maine and attending a famous prep school in Florida for two years before enrolling at Duke as a 17-year-old and making millions in NIL money.
But he won’t represent a dynasty as Laettner did when Duke began its rise from a regional private school without a gazillion-dollar endowment to the global brand it became under Krzyzewski.
When the ball goes up, fans from every school still root hard for their teams. But they don’t embrace their star players like family members for three or four years. That is what money has done to the heart and soul of the game.
R.J. Davis, Armando Bacot and Leaky Black played five years thanks to the extra season granted to COVID enrollees. Davis earned ACC and All-American honors, Bacot became UNC’s all-time leading rebounder and defensive ace Black got a shot to play in the NBA.
All three played in the two wins over Duke that will live forever for both fan bases. . . as will the incomparable Christian Laettner.
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Featured image via Associated Press/Ben McKeown
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Chansky’s Notebook: Incomparable Chapelboro.com.
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