Cooper Flagg wins Wooden Award: Duke star becomes fourth freshman to win college basketball's biggest award

Cooper Flagg is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, but he won't be going to the next level without racking up some hardware first. On Saturday, the Duke freshman was named the winner of the 2025 Wooden Award, given to the best college men's and women's basketball players. 

Flagg was hyped up coming into Duke and has only exceeded expectations. He didn't lead the nation in scoring, averaging 18.9 points per game, but he added 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game while playing All-World defense. Duke finished the regular season 35-3 and in first place in the ACC. 

Flagg is the first Duke player to win it since Zion Williamson in 2019. He becomes the eighth Blue Devil overall to be named the Wooden Award winner. 

Here's more on Flagg winning the 2025 Wooden Award and the other freshman to have also won it. 

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Cooper Flagg wins Wooden Award

The Wooden Award is college basketball's version of the Heisman Trophy. 

Flagg re-classified and ended up skipping his senior year of high school. He started at Duke at only 17, but his high level of play kept him on the Wooden Award watchlist for the entire season. Flagg was included in the Wooden Award's Top 5, the final stage before voting on the winner. He joined Auburn's Johni Broome, Florida's Walter Clayton Jr., Alabama's Mark Sears, and Florida's Braden Smith. 

Official voting totals have yet to be made public, but in the Wooden Award's results release, it was stated that Flagg beat Broome by 178 votes. This implies that Broome came in second. 

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Freshman to win Wooden Award

Flagg joins an exclusive club of freshman to win the Wooden Award. Williamson won it at Duke in 2019, Kentucky's Anthony Davis won it in 2012, and Texas' Kevin Durant took home the hardware in 2007. 

Zion Williamson

Williamson was at Duke for the 2018-2019 season. He led the Blue Devils to an overall record of 32-6, going 14-4 in the ACC. Duke made it to the Elite Eight that year. The Blue Devils earned the No. 1 seed in the East Region and beat No. 16 North Dakota State in the first round. Duke survived an upset attempt by No. 9 UCF in the second round and narrowly beat Virginia Tech in the Sweet 16. No. 2 Michigan State beat Duke 68-67 in the Elite Eight to end not only the Blue Devils' season but Williamson's collegiate career. 

He was drafted with the first overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft by the Pelicans. 

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Anthony Davis

Like Williamson, Davis was also one-and-done in his collegiate career. The forward went to Kentucky and helped the Wildcats win the national championship in 2012. Kentucky went 38-2 overall and an undefeated 16-0 in the SEC. The Wildcats were given a 1-seed for the NCAA Tournament. They steamrolled No. 16 Western Kentucky, No. 8 Iowa State, No. 4 Indiana, and No. 3 Baylor, winning all four games by at least 12 points. 

The Wildcats then beat No. 4 Louisville 69-61 in the Final Four and prevailed over Kansas 67-59 in the national championship. Davis ended his college career on top, declaring for the draft. He was selected with the first overall pick by the Pelicans (then Hornets) in the 2012 NBA Draft. 

Kevin Durant

Durant spent one year at Texas, but he was impactful enough to win that year's Wooden Award. The Longhorns went 25-10 overall and 12-4 in the Big 12 in the 2006-2007 season, earning a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Longhorns beat No. 13 New Mexico State 79-67 in the first round, but Texas didn't last long in the tournament, as they suffered an 87-68 blowout loss to No. 5 USC in the second round. 

Durant declared for the 2007 NBA Draft. He was the second overall pick by the Seattle Supersonics, which became the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

Here are how the four freshman compared on per-game stats when they won the Wooden Award. 

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