Freshman sensation Cooper Flagg led the Blue Devils past George Mason 68-47 on Tuesday. The game followed the same blueprint seen during Duke’s now five-game winning streak, with Jon Scheyer leaning on Flagg to deliver again, which he duly did. While the projected No. 1 Draft prospect has been undeniably good, for Duke to develop a championship-winning team, more strength across the board might be needed.

Though the reliance on Flagg has bore fruits, as seen in his performance against George Mason where he notched up 24 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block, it has also backfired at times. This was evident in just the third game of the season against Kentucky. In the final moments of the game at the State Farm Arena, with Duke trailing, Scheyer turned to Flagg and the 17-year-old duly obliged with a shot that tied the game. But as the game restarted, Kentucky wing, Otega Oweh stayed back to mark Flagg and eventually ripped the ball out of Flagg’s grasp as Duke was pushing for a winner. After the game, Scheyer acknowledged he could have done things better. 

Back in November, following their win against Wofford, HC Scheyer said that Duke has “11 good players.” The Duke fans would have loved nothing more than to see 11 players capable of going through rotation without it drastically affecting the team, especially after the 2024 season when the lack of a quality bench lineup derailed their campaign. As such, the over-reliance on Flagg could be alarming, at least according to sports analyst Tim Donelly.

Donelly addressed this on Wednesday, in a YouTube video on the 99.9 The Fan channel. He emphasized how Flagg has dominated the Duke team; in the last game, he took more than 35% of the total shots that were taken in the game. While he said that the issue wasn’t exactly a “red flag” he put it just a level below as a “yellow caution flag.”

Donelly then shared the example of how the NFL side Philadelphia Eagles operates with running back Saquon Barkley drawing parallels with Duke and Flagg. He then pointed out how well Flagg did against George Mason in terms of points and assists but had a concern. “The thing that that kind of kind of jumped out to me he was 7 for 20 shooting. Now I don’t mind a shooter shooting. I don’t mind ‘hey if I’m cold, I’m going to shoot my way out of this,’ I don’t mind that. The issue I have is they only took 56 shots as a team he took over 35% of their team shots to get those 24 points.”

Scheyer isn’t willing to change the way they play.

Evans particularly, is a glancing roll into the bottom of the world’s best shooters, and Donelly believes “numbers are going to force Jon Scheyer to play him.” He has also received praise from Flagg who talked about how he performed in the game against George Mason.

Cooper Flagg praises Evans after the George Mason win

After the match against Mason, Flagg himself praised Evans saying, “He just opens up the floor so well with his ability to just come off screens, set his feet, and knock down shots. He’s such a skilled player in that way. He can do so much—drive it, shoot it, and his defense has come along really well this year.” Evans has proved himself a reliable scorer in limited minutes. The 6-foot-6 guard averages 8.7 points per game while shooting a scorching 50% from three-point range. 

Georgia Tech is next for Duke, and it is a chance to roll some momentum and incorporate Evans better into their game plan. With a chance to dominate the ACC and reassert themselves nationally, the Blue Devils need to be able to develop a more balanced offense.

The good news is that Flagg is not going anywhere, but Scheyer will have to develop a way to incorporate his best players in the system so that they can deal with what is to come and perhaps not fall short of their goals due to a single-minded approach.