Cooper Flagg has yet to play a college basketball game, but Division I coaches already view the incoming Duke freshman as the best collegiate player in the nation.

Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander of CBS Sports anonymously polled over 100 Division I college basketball coaches, and 36 percent of them named Flagg when asked who would be the best player in college basketball during the 2024-25 season.

Flagg was followed by Alabama's Mark Sears (22 percent), Kansas' Hunter Dickinson (16 percent) and North Carolina's RJ Davis (15 percent) in the voting.

The 17-year-old Flagg has long been heralded as the next big thing in basketball, and he has lived up to every expectation thus far.

After starring at Montverde Academy in Montverde, Florida, the 6'9" wing committed to play his college basketball at Duke. It was a major coup for Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer since 247Sports ranks Flagg as a 5-star prospect and the No. 1 overall recruit in his class.

Flagg achieved nearly every major accolade imaginable during his high school career, including being named USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year in 2022 and both National High School Player of the Year and Gatorade National Men's Athlete of the Year in 2024.

He parlayed that success into a spot on the USA Select Team this summer, which scrimmaged with the United States men's basketball team before it went to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal.

In a poll conducted by Joe Vardon and Sam Amick of The Athletic, the majority of those who took part in Team USA training camp voted Flagg as the best player on the Select Team. He received nine votes despite playing alongside mostly NBA players.

One of the coaches polled by Parrish and Norlander expressed their belief that the experience of participating in the training camp will serve Flagg well during the 2024-25 season, saying:

"Cooper Flagg will ultimately be the best player in college basketball next season. He has all the ability and I think his confidence level is super high coming in. Playing against the USA team this summer and not backing down to those guys will give him an extra edge from the start. If I had to place a wager on the player of the year, I would actually go with Hunter Dickinson, but I think Flagg will be the best player and the guy that half of the NBA is trying to tank for next year."

Another college coach called Flagg a "generational talent" and a third said they are "on board the Cooper Flagg hype train."

As noted by Parrish and Norlander, Flagg will join elite company if he wins national player of the year honors after the upcoming season, as only Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson have accomplished that feat as freshmen.

Davis and Williamson went on to become No. 1 overall picks in the NBA draft, and while Durant was a No. 2 overall pick, history says he clearly should have been the No. 1 overall pick over Greg Oden in 2007.

Barring a significant injury, all signs point toward Flagg being the slam dunk No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft regardless of whether he wins national player of the year as a freshman.