MALAGA, Spain— The future of USA basketball was on full display here yesterday.
When the Americans finalized their roster for the U17 World Championships, they took two 15s who are member of the class of 2025– 6-9 Cooper Flagg and 6-8 215-pound Koa Peat.
Flagg got a double-double, scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds and adding four assists and three steals while Peat added 17 and six rebounds as the USA blew by a good Serbian team, 101-73 in the quarterfinals at Martin Capena Arena.
Peat who is from Chandler, Ariz., had credentials coming into the tryout. He was the No. 1 ranked player in the class and is projected to be the first pick in the NBA draft.
But Flagg comes from rural small town beginnings where family means everything. He is from Newport, Maine as a normal kid who liked hunting and fishing and learned how to play on local rec teams and the Maine United Nike EBYL travel team with his twin brother Ace and older brother Hunter. Cooper emerged as a basketball phenom when video clips began to emerge showing him dominating high school competition as an eighth grader. But he really blew up the summer before ninth grade when former Boston Celtics player Brian Scalabrine invited him to a high-powered pick-up game in Boston with pros, fomer NBA players and high school on the advice of Matt Mackenzie, Flagg’s workout guy to see if the hype was true. The 14-year-old Flagg dominated the session and the myth became reality. Flagg is a one in a generation player. He took a Nokomis Regional team that was 1-17 two years earlier and led it to a state Class A championship as a freshman with his two brothers when he scored 22 points and pulled own 6 rebounds during a 43-27 win over Falmouth before a crowd of 5,000 at Blue Cross Arena in Portland.
Scalabrine, a true believer, was there to watch it in person.
Flagg, the Gatorade State Player of the Year, won’t be around for an encore. He and Ace won’t be around for an encore. They both accepted scholarships to play for Kevin Boyle at nationally prominent Montverde Academy in Florida. “It was big decision because it meant leaving my parents but playing against better competition is all part of the process if your end goal is to play in the NBA. I’m happy my twin brother is coming too. We’ve always been close.”
Flagg, who averaging 21 points, 10 assists, 6 assists, four steals and four blocks as a freshman, is growing up before our eyes, following in the footsteps of his dad Ralph and mother Kelly, who plays for three straight American East championship teams at Maine. He is one of the three best players in his class, along with Peat and Cameron Boozer of Miami Columbus. Duke, Michigan, and UCLA have already offered him after watching him play for Maine United
Peat, on the other hand, was a versatile man child as an eighth grader when he was rated the No. 14-year-old in the country.
Peat has the gene pool to be special. He is the youngest of seven children. his father Todd is a former NFL lineman. his three older brothers played major college football and Andrus, who attended Stanford, is now an offensive lineman with the NFL New Orleans Saints. Two older sisters both play Division I basketball.\
Koa is en route to becoming of the great basketball players in state history., receiving an offer from Arizona in eighth grade. Peat, who carries a 3.8 GPA, is a self-made player, working out twice a day.
Hard work pays off. Peat scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds and was the best player on the court, including his 7-0 teammate Dylan Williams., an Arizona signee, when he helped lead Gilbert to its first state championship ever with a 48-38 victory over Chandler Hamilton. Peat enhanced his resume by playing for the nationally recognized Compton Magic travel program, where who is considered to be one of their best prospects ever, a player who can play one through five. USC, UCLA, Arizona State and Washington have since offered but there is a good chance Peat could be the first pick in the 2026 NBA draft.
His transition to international basketball has been made easier by the fact USA has so many players who can score double figures for this team, which has won 42 straight U17 World games and is capable of scoring 100 points in any game it plays.
But these two are the cornerstones for future USA basketball youth teams.
