Top Basketball Recruit Cooper Flagg Delays College Decision Following Maine Mass Shooting

Maine native postpones choice between Duke and UConn in response to tragedy that claimed 18 lives in his home state.

Top 2024 basketball recruit Cooper Flagg has postponed his college decision, which was expected to be announced on Thursday, October 26, 2023, amidst the recent mass shooting tragedy in his home state of Maine.
Flagg is currently studying at Montverde Academy in Florida but is originally from Newport, Maine, which is around 80 miles from Lewiston, where the mass shooting took place claiming 18 lives and leaving 13 injured.
Flagg has indicated on social media that he believes the focus should be on supporting the victims, their families, and law enforcement in the wake of the tragedy rather than on his college decision.
The top prospect, a 6-foot-9 small forward, had been considering a place with either Duke or the defending national champion University of Connecticut (UConn) basketball team.
Although Flagg had previously expressed that Duke is his dream school, he introduced UConn into consideration after an official visit in September, where he spent time with 7-2 center and family friend, Donovan Clingan. Flagg and Clingan’s mothers were former basketball teammates at Maine.