Latest news with #SelectTeam
Fox Sports
22-02-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Elite, fearless, generational: Cooper Flagg ready to shine at Madison Square Garden
When you walk through the hallways of Madison Square Garden, there are pictures of Muhammad Ali, Patrick Ewing, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and countless other icons in sports and entertainment. On Saturday night, Cooper Flagg will step into the aura of MSG and get the opportunity to make his mark. The future first overall pick in this June's NBA Draft leads his No. 3-ranked Duke Blue Devils into the SentinelOne Classic against Illinois at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. The Blue Devils, who are 23-3 on the year and have lost just once since Nov. 26, 2024, were guided by Flagg's 17 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals earlier this week in an 80-62 win at Virginia. That's par for the course for the 6-foot-9 Flagg, who's now averaging 19.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. No freshman in college basketball history has led his team in every major statistical category and played in the NCAA Tournament. Flagg is tracking to do exactly that and could end up doing much more than just appearing on the Big Dance floor. To stuff the stat sheet like that while shooting 49% from the floor and 37% from downtown means that whichever team possesses the No. 1 pick in this year's draft is getting a player who is the total package. The fact that Flagg is only 18 years old and was supposed to be a member of next year's freshman class makes what he's doing that much more eye-popping. "I just think he's a lock to be an elite No. 2 option in the NBA with upside for him to be a No. 1," one NBA scout told FOX Sports. "With Cooper, it feels like a guarantee that he will contribute to a winning team in the NBA." What makes Flagg outstanding is his feel and instincts for the game, along with his ability to make so many winning plays on both ends of the floor. He makes the extraordinary look much more ordinary than it should. With a wingspan of over 7 feet, he has the ability to explode to the basket on the offensive end and alter shots on the defensive end. He's the most gifted defensive prospect we've seen at the top of the draft in several years and should join Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson as the only freshmen to win National Player of the Year honors. [Read more: What are the 10 best men's college basketball seasons by a freshman?] The growth of Flagg's game as a scorer and playmaker has been special to watch, but equally important is his maturity and unselfishness. After playing with USA Basketball in training camp as a member of the Select Team ahead of the Paris Olympics this past summer, the spotlight was never brighter on Flagg. He handled it with ease, and the pros noticed. "To be able to do what he did, not even playing a college game, let alone an NBA game, there's no fear," Select Team forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. of the Miami Heat said. "It's relentless, and the thing that you can tell about him is that he just has a knack and the will to win. He doesn't need the ball. He just finds a way to it. And the ball finds its way to him. That's something that you can't teach. He's just got a great feel for the game." Duke head coach Jon Scheyer doubled down on Jaquez's comments, emphasizing Flagg's ability to lead and always pick his teammates up. "The most impressive thing to me is the fact that he's the same way every day," Scheyer told The Field of 68 earlier this week. "His approach. He's competitive. He has energy. He's as loud as anybody in the gym. It just picks everything up. "Lots of times as a coach, you're talking about the energy of a practice or [saying], 'We need to pick it up.' That hasn't happened this year. Cooper's not the only reason, but being the best player, he's a huge reason why that's the case. He just has a unique feel for how to pick others up and rise to the occasion. He's done an incredible job doing both of those things." It will be fascinating to see Flagg under the bright lights on Saturday against an Illinois team that has hit a roadblock in its season, dropping back-to-back games and now sitting at 9-8 in the Big Ten. As much as this game looks like tough timing for the Fighting Illini, perhaps it's the type of stage that Brad Underwood's team needs to get out of their funk. What makes this matchup so intriguing is that there's another top-five draft prospect playing in Kasparas Jakucionis, the 6-foot-6 guard from Lithuania who's averaging 15.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. His creativity and length as a versatile guard has made him a riser in this draft class. The Garden will see a season-high number of scouts on Saturday. [Read more: 2025 NBA Draft No. 1 pick odds: Dyland Harper gaining ground on Cooper Flagg] Beyond basketball, Flagg's story is something that goes beyond the norm for a top prospect. It's well-documented, but I don't think the fact that he's from Newport, Maine can be overstated. The small-town story and humble beginnings of the son of a Maine great, his mom Kelly, along with his father Ralph, who played at Eastern Maine Community College, give him this added dimension of being relatable. His twin brother Ace is off to Maine. The reason why there was a Maine United team at the 2023 Peach Jam — a legendary Nike EYBL tournament held in Georgia — and the only reason why there ever will be is Flagg, who set the gym in Atlanta on fire with his play. With a shoe deal with New Balance, an underdog brand in the normally Nike-driven world of basketball sneakers, Flagg showed the world that he was carving his own path. Alongside Tyrese Proctor and fellow freshman Kon Knueppel, Flagg and the Blue Devils have a real chance to show the world this April in San Antonio that Duke is back on top and that 37-year-old Jon Scheyer was in fact the perfect fit to take over for Mike Krzyzewski. [Read more: Duke's new king: Jon Scheyer's journey to one of basketball's biggest jobs] For now, it's the bright lights of MSG on Saturday night. "He's generational," Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes said earlier this year when describing Flagg. "I've coached against some great players in my career. He'd be one of them. I've got a list of Kevin Durant or Derrick Rose or Kawhi Leonard. Flagg is on that level." One NBA scout said it best when I asked what we should expect on Saturday: "Cooper Flagg lives for the moment. Have your popcorn ready." John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him at @John_Fanta . Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily . FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience College Basketball Duke Blue Devils National Basketball Association recommended Get more from College Basketball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
New York Times
18-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
With ‘We Beat the Dream Team,' Grant Hill Can Finally Gloat
Grant Hill is a seven-time N.B.A. All-Star, Chris Webber a five-timer and Penny Hardaway a four-timer. Allan Houston was selected twice, Jamal Mashburn once. But back in 1992, they were just a bunch of college students playing a scrimmage against the U.S. men's national basketball team, otherwise known as the Dream Team, which included Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and six other future Hall of Famers. The odds that Hill and company could topple a squad that went on to destroy every opponent at the Olympics by an average of 44 points seemed vanishingly thin. The HBO documentary 'We Beat the Dream Team,' which premiered on Monday and is streaming on Max, recounts the day in June 1992 when that shocker actually happened — when the Select Team, as this collection of youthful sparring partners was called, stunned the game's biggest players. Bobby Hurley, the Select Team's point guard, pushed the pace and shredded the Dream Team defense with pinpoint passes. Houston buried threes. Webber was a force inside. Their elders looked complacent and sloppy, turning over the ball and even missing dunks as the game slipped away. The scrimmage lasted about 20 minutes, but the Select Team finished with a solid 62-54 triumph. Because of a rule change made by the International Basketball Federation, the 1992 Barcelona Games were the first Olympics in which N.B.A. players were permitted to play. For the college players, who were a bit resentful because they had hoped to represent the U.S. at the Games, the scrimmage victory was the ultimate vindication. (A few celebrated with perhaps a bit too much trash talk.) But as the documentary makes clear, their victory was essentially buried. The coach of the Olympic team, Chuck Daly, made sure the scoreboard was shut off before reporters came into the gym. No one really talked about it in the media that day. (Daly had allowed only one camera to record the game.) Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CNN
15-02-2025
- Sport
- CNN
‘I was just in awe': Grant Hill on beating the 1992 Dream Team and having to keep it a secret
What would you do if you had just pulled off the biggest win of your career so far, one of the biggest upsets in basketball history, but you couldn't tell anyone about it? That is the question Grant Hill – before he was seven-time NBA All-Star Grant Hill – had to wrestle with 33 years ago. He and seven other college players had just beaten the Dream Team, the 1992 US men's Olympic basketball team made up of the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, in a scrimmage during the buildup to the Barcelona Games. Described as the greatest team ever assembled in any sport, they'd been brought together to restore some American pride after Team USA has been beaten in five consecutive international tournaments. Coach Chuck Daly, apparently wary of what the press would make of them losing to a bunch of college kids, made it clear that news of the result would be going nowhere. 'It was kind of like this sort of urban legend, a myth, like did it really happen?' Hill, who was managing director of the USA men's national team at Paris 2024, told CNN Sport. 'We talked about it amongst ourselves and just how amazing that was and how much fun it was,' he said. 'We just kind of talked about it like 'Man, we gotta do a documentary one day.' You know, not thinking it would ever happen.' Nowadays, the secret is out. 'We Beat the Dream Team,' a new documentary which debuts on HBO and Max – which, like CNN, are part of parent company Warner Bros. Discovery – on February 17, is the first time all seven surviving members of the Select Team of college players have had the opportunity to tell the story. 'They couldn't have been happier to sit down and talk to me and tell the story from their point of view,' said the documentary's director, Michael Tolajian, in an interview with CNN Sport. 'When we reached out to Grant Hill, Chris Webber, these guys, they said to me, 'Mike, I've been waiting 32 years for someone to call me and say they wanted to interview me about that game. I've been waiting all this time to tell our side of the story.'' For Hill, that story began in the weight room at Duke University, shortly after he and his teammates had wrapped up their second straight NCAA title under legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski. 'Coach K told me that I had been selected to be on the Select Team, that would practice and help prepare the Dream Team out in San Diego,' remembered Hill. 'I was in disbelief. These were my heroes, these were icons. These were guys that, you know, I grew up and they inspired me to play. 'I tried to pattern my game and mold my game after a lot of them, and then at 19 to have an opportunity to go out and compete against them,' he continued, 'I was just in awe of the moment.' Even then, Hill was still not entirely sure what his role would be. 'We were the Select Team,' Hill joked in the documentary. 'Selected to get our a**es kicked!' 'I thought we would sort of be brought in as, like, practice dummies,' he explained to CNN. 'I didn't know what to expect. Would they incorporate us in the practice and drills, you know? Would we be there to get them water and towels?' It would soon become clear that he and his teammates were not expected to be mere assistants. 'I remember prior to us going out there, Roy Williams – who coached us and at the time was the head coach at Kansas – he was going over who was going to start and who was guarding who,' recalled Hill. 'And he said, 'Grant, you got Jordan.' And I'm like, 'Oh my.' 'It was one of those moments where time stood still. You just try to digest the fact that 'Here I am, about to compete against Michael Jordan.'' But, Hill explained, when the time came around, he and his teammates played with no fear. 'I think there was the nervous anticipation before the game and even up until we started. But once we started having success, and once we started seeing each other have success, I think we collectively gained confidence. 'Playing against the Dream Team, you're forced to bond quickly or it's going to be a disaster. And we did, and we had our moment which was so incredible.' Only one camera was recording the action and only one tape exists of that game. As Daly called time on the scrimmage, the scoreboard confirmed the shocking result – Dream Team 54-62 Select Team. But it did not stay that way for long. With the press about to make their entrance into the facility, the score was quickly removed from the board. 'I think once the media came in, if they knew that we had won that would have been a huge story, so it was smart to take down the score,' accepted Hill. 'You had these guys that were the greatest players who had been playing against each other all these years in the NBA. Now, they were coming together. It was like a Marvel superhero movie, all the greatest superheroes coming together,' explained Tolajian. 'There was all this attention like 'They're gonna destroy everybody. They're going to crush everybody by 60 points. We can't wait to see them all together.' And so, the very first game that these superheroes play, to have a college team beat them, it would have been everywhere. 'It would have been like 'Oh my God, what's going on? How could these guys have lost?' It would have been international news, I think, and caused maybe a lot of headaches for Chuck Daly and Olympic USA Basketball.' The Dream Team played the Select Team again the next day and took their revenge in a 102 – 55 bloodbath, going on to crush the competition at Barcelona 1992 and winning gold at a canter. But maybe that would not have been the case had Jordan and Co. not learned that they could be beaten by anybody, even a bunch of teenagers. There has even been speculation from some – including Coach K in the 2012 documentary 'The Dream Team' – that Daly intentionally threw the game by benching Jordan for much of the contest and letting the loss play out, in order to keep his players humble, to remind them that they were not invincible. Hill is, perhaps unsurprisingly, unconvinced by the theory, and a portion of 'We Beat the Dream Team' centers on his friendly disagreements with Krzyzewski. Tolajian, on the other hand, preferred not to be drawn on what he thought of the controversy. 'I want to withhold that so people will watch the film and make up their own mind,' he smiled. 'I have my own theories, but I try to tell it down the middle. I will say that I think both sides have very valid arguments. 'I'll let the fans and viewers watch it, and I encourage more debate about it, because the only guy that knows is Chuck Daly, and he's no longer with us.' One fact, though, is not up for debate. Hill and his teammates really did beat the Dream Team. And now they can tell the world all about it.
CNN
14-02-2025
- Sport
- CNN
‘I was just in awe': Grant Hill on beating the 1992 Dream Team and having to keep it a secret
What would you do if you had just pulled off the biggest win of your career so far, one of the biggest upsets in basketball history, but you couldn't tell anyone about it? That is the question Grant Hill – before he was seven-time NBA All-Star Grant Hill – had to wrestle with 33 years ago. He and seven other college players had just beaten the Dream Team, the 1992 US men's Olympic basketball team made up of the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, in a scrimmage during the buildup to the Barcelona Games. Described as the greatest team ever assembled in any sport, they'd been brought together to restore some American pride after Team USA has been beaten in five consecutive international tournaments. Coach Chuck Daly, apparently wary of what the press would make of them losing to a bunch of college kids, made it clear that news of the result would be going nowhere. 'It was kind of like this sort of urban legend, a myth, like did it really happen?' Hill, who was managing director of the USA men's national team at Paris 2024, told CNN Sport. 'We talked about it amongst ourselves and just how amazing that was and how much fun it was,' he said. 'We just kind of talked about it like 'Man, we gotta do a documentary one day.' You know, not thinking it would ever happen.' Nowadays, the secret is out. 'We Beat the Dream Team,' a new documentary which debuts on HBO and Max – which, like CNN, are part of parent company Warner Bros. Discovery – on February 17, is the first time all seven surviving members of the Select Team of college players have had the opportunity to tell the story. 'They couldn't have been happier to sit down and talk to me and tell the story from their point of view,' said the documentary's director, Michael Tolajian, in an interview with CNN Sport. 'When we reached out to Grant Hill, Chris Webber, these guys, they said to me, 'Mike, I've been waiting 32 years for someone to call me and say they wanted to interview me about that game. I've been waiting all this time to tell our side of the story.'' For Hill, that story began in the weight room at Duke University, shortly after he and his teammates had wrapped up their second straight NCAA title under legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski. 'Coach K told me that I had been selected to be on the Select Team, that would practice and help prepare the Dream Team out in San Diego,' remembered Hill. 'I was in disbelief. These were my heroes, these were icons. These were guys that, you know, I grew up and they inspired me to play. 'I tried to pattern my game and mold my game after a lot of them, and then at 19 to have an opportunity to go out and compete against them,' he continued, 'I was just in awe of the moment.' Even then, Hill was still not entirely sure what his role would be. 'We were the Select Team,' Hill joked in the documentary. 'Selected to get our a**es kicked!' 'I thought we would sort of be brought in as, like, practice dummies,' he explained to CNN. 'I didn't know what to expect. Would they incorporate us in the practice and drills, you know? Would we be there to get them water and towels?' It would soon become clear that he and his teammates were not expected to be mere assistants. 'I remember prior to us going out there, Roy Williams – who coached us and at the time was the head coach at Kansas – he was going over who was going to start and who was guarding who,' recalled Hill. 'And he said, 'Grant, you got Jordan.' And I'm like, 'Oh my.' 'It was one of those moments where time stood still. You just try to digest the fact that 'Here I am, about to compete against Michael Jordan.'' But, Hill explained, when the time came around, he and his teammates played with no fear. 'I think there was the nervous anticipation before the game and even up until we started. But once we started having success, and once we started seeing each other have success, I think we collectively gained confidence. 'Playing against the Dream Team, you're forced to bond quickly or it's going to be a disaster. And we did, and we had our moment which was so incredible.' Only one camera was recording the action and only one tape exists of that game. As Daly called time on the scrimmage, the scoreboard confirmed the shocking result – Dream Team 54-62 Select Team. But it did not stay that way for long. With the press about to make their entrance into the facility, the score was quickly removed from the board. 'I think once the media came in, if they knew that we had won that would have been a huge story, so it was smart to take down the score,' accepted Hill. 'You had these guys that were the greatest players who had been playing against each other all these years in the NBA. Now, they were coming together. It was like a Marvel superhero movie, all the greatest superheroes coming together,' explained Tolajian. 'There was all this attention like 'They're gonna destroy everybody. They're going to crush everybody by 60 points. We can't wait to see them all together.' And so, the very first game that these superheroes play, to have a college team beat them, it would have been everywhere. 'It would have been like 'Oh my God, what's going on? How could these guys have lost?' It would have been international news, I think, and caused maybe a lot of headaches for Chuck Daly and Olympic USA Basketball.' The Dream Team played the Select Team again the next day and took their revenge in a 102 – 55 bloodbath, going on to crush the competition at Barcelona 1992 and winning gold at a canter. But maybe that would not have been the case had Jordan and Co. not learned that they could be beaten by anybody, even a bunch of teenagers. There has even been speculation from some – including Coach K in the 2012 documentary 'The Dream Team' – that Daly intentionally threw the game by benching Jordan for much of the contest and letting the loss play out, in order to keep his players humble, to remind them that they were not invincible. Hill is, perhaps unsurprisingly, unconvinced by the theory, and a portion of 'We Beat the Dream Team' centers on his friendly disagreements with Krzyzewski. Tolajian, on the other hand, preferred not to be drawn on what he thought of the controversy. 'I want to withhold that so people will watch the film and make up their own mind,' he smiled. 'I have my own theories, but I try to tell it down the middle. I will say that I think both sides have very valid arguments. 'I'll let the fans and viewers watch it, and I encourage more debate about it, because the only guy that knows is Chuck Daly, and he's no longer with us.' One fact, though, is not up for debate. Hill and his teammates really did beat the Dream Team. And now they can tell the world all about it.
