CBB With Danny Z: Cooper Flagg Injury Dampens Conference Tournament Excitement

PublishedMarch 13, 2025 6:50 PM EDT|UpdatedMarch 13, 2025 6:51 PM EDT

One of the most underrated aspects of March Madness is the conference tournaments where teams on the bubble make their final push for the NCAA Tournament and elite teams try to cement high seeds.

Of course, the actual NCAA Tournament gets all the major publicity, but with nearly every team in college basketball granted a chance to play their way into the Big Dance, the conference tournaments deserve their shine, as well.

And that's exactly what we're going to give them in the latest edition of CBB With Danny Z.

Have thoughts on college basketball that you want to share? Shoot me an email at dan.zaksheske@outkick.com or a tweet @RealDanZak.

Bad news for college basketball fans, as Cooper Flagg suffered an ankle injury during the ACC Tournament

As a lifelong North Carolina Tar Heels fan, I hate Duke. Sorry, but that's the way it works. I want them to lose every game.

That being said, Cooper Flagg is good for college basketball. He's the best player in the sport, and he's incredibly fun to watch. I wish it were a different uniform, but at the end of the day, as a college basketball fan, I want Flagg to play in the NCAA Tournament.

Cooper Flagg suffered an ankle injury during Duke's ACC Tournament game against Georgia Tech.

(John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Unfortunately, that's now in question after Flagg suffered what appeared to be a brutal ankle injury in Duke's first ACC Tournament game against Georgia Tech. Flagg had to be helped off the court and appeared afraid to put any weight on his left foot.

Although Flagg was later spotted in a wheelchair, the good news is that he was walking (albeit gingerly) after the injury and even returned to the court to support his teammates.

Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said after the game that X-rays were negative, meaning Flagg sprained his ankle but did not break it.

Prayers up for Cooper Flagg, and hopefully he can return for the NCAA Tournament, which starts in one week.

I have to address the worst coaching move of the season, courtesy of John Calipari

When I first saw this headline, I legitimately thought it was from a sports version of the Babylon Bee. How could a Division I basketball coach, particularly one with the pedigree of John Calipari, make such a bad decision?

Let's set the scene: Calipari's Arkansas Razorbacks led the South Carolina Gamecocks by three points with under three seconds left to play in the first round of the SEC Tournament.

Arkansas head coach John Calipari made the worst coaching decision of the NCAA basketball season.

(Joe Sargent/Getty Images)

Arkansas guard Johnell Davis had just made the first of two free throws and needed to make the second to give the Razorbacks a four-point lead to guarantee victory. Davis, an 84 percent career free-throw shooter, figured to have a good chance to salt the game away.

But, for some insane and unknown reason, Calipari instructed his senior guard to PURPOSELY miss the second free throw. Wait, what? Why in the world would a player purposefully miss a free throw to give his team a four-point lead with under three seconds remaining?

Thankfully for Arkansas, although Davis tried to miss the free throw, he actually banked it in off the backboard.

Of course, that ended the game. South Carolina never even attempted a final shot, not that it would have even mattered, and Arkansas advanced in the SEC Tournament.

But the question remained: why try to miss that free throw? Instead of admitting that he made a mistake, Calipari defended the decision by saying he does "some unconventional stuff."

OK, a few things are wrong with this. The first, and most obvious, is that a four-point lead with less than three seconds left is virtually insurmountable. There's zero reason not to take that lead.

The second is that Calipari's logic might have made SOME sense, apart from the fact that South Carolina had a timeout left. If David misses the free throw, South Carolina can immediately call a timeout to draw up a final play or try to advance the ball to half court, call the timeout, and then draw up a play.

Calipari's logic makes sense if Arkansas had led by one or two in that situation, and if South Carolina did not have a timeout. The thought is that it's very difficult to grab a rebound – as opposed to inbounding from under the hoop – and get a decent shot with that little time left.

In fact, if Arkansas only led by one point and South Carolina had no timeouts, missing the free throw is the correct call. If they led by two, there's an argument that missing is the right call – again, assuming no timeouts remaining.

The only explanation is that Calipari thought his team led by two, not three, and South Carolina had no timeouts remaining. Both were wrong, which is what makes this the worst coaching decision of the year. That lack of awareness in a crucial situation is sometimes excusable by a college kid in the heat of the moment.

For a future Hall of Fame coach like John Calipari, it's absolutely indefensible.

Let's give some love to the small-conference winners who punched their tickets to the Big Dance

The major conference tournaments get enough publicity, but the best part of the NCAA Tournament is that every conference gets to send a representative. No matter how poor a school's season is at that point, they have a shot of entering the NCAA Tournament with a magical March run. That's the beauty of college basketball.

The first team to play its way into the tournament was Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. SIUE captured the Ohio Valley Tournament Championship over Southeast Missouri State and earned the school's first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Wofford Terriers are going dancing

Perhaps the best story of the small-conference teams to play their way into the NCAA Tournament, at least so far, is the Wofford Terriers. Wofford entered the SoCon Tournament as the No. 6 seed and were, obviously, not expected to win it all.

Not only did they do exactly that, winning three games in a row to capture the SoCon Championship, but they are led by one of the most unique players in college basketball. His name is Kyler Filewich and America should get to know the name.

Good news, America! Wofford and center Kyler Filewich are going to the NCAA Tournament!

(John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

He's a 6'9" senior from Canada, and he starts at center for Wofford. He leads the team with 9.4 rebounds per game and is second in points at 11.9 per game. You're probably thinking: "So, what?" Those certainly aren't jump-off-the-page numbers.

But it's the free throw line where Filewich distinguishes himself from any other player in the NCAA Tournament.

Filewich captured SoCon Tournament MVP honors after helping his team finish its magical run with a championship victory over Furman.

McNeese State is probably the most dangerous small-conference champion

OutKick's Mark Harris recently did a deep-dive into what former LSU coach Will Wade is doing at McNeese State, and that was before the team won the Southland Conference for the second straight year.

McNeese lost just one conference game all season and swept through the Southland Tournament. In fact, Wade has lost just two conference games combined in his two seasons in Lake Charles after leading the team to the NCAA Tournament last season.

While Wade and the players are the obvious focus, don't sleep on team manager Amir Khan, who is a major factor for McNeese.

March is the best.

Other conference champions…

It would take too long to do detailed breakdowns of every conference champion, but I want to at least mention other teams that have earned their trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Lipscomb won the ASUN, Montana captured the Big Sky, High Point emerged from the Big South (first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance), UNC Wilmington won the CAA, Robert Morris is the Horizon League champion, Drake captured the Missouri Valley title, St. Francis won the Northeast, American defeated Navy to capture the Patriot League championship, Omaha won the Summit (first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance), and Troy emerged from the Sun Belt.

Oh, and Gonzaga won the WCC, although was likely already in the tournament. As is the team that it defeated, St. Mary's. Gonzaga and St. Mary's have met in the WCC Championship in six of the past seven tournaments, with Gonzaga winning four.

Bad beat of the week…

Well, why not stick with John Calipari's Arkansas Razorbacks, shall we? They entered their SEC regular season finale as 1.5-point favorites over Mississippi State at home.

The Razorbacks were comfortably in control throughout the entire second half, leading by as many as 16 points. But the Bulldogs clawed their way back and took the lead with around three minutes remaining.

With under a minute to play, the teams were tied. Arkansas guard D.J. Wagner drilled a three-pointer with 41 seconds to play, and the Razorback bettors had to be feeling good. However, Mississippi State's Josh Hubbard answered with a three of his own to tie it.

On the ensuing possession, Mississippi State committed a foul, sending Jonas Aidoo to the line for two. He made the first but, of course, missed the second.

Still, if Arkansas could get a stop, Mississippi State would foul and one free throw would still secure the cover. Except, the Bulldogs ran out almost the entire clock before missing, meaning Arkansas won, but failed to cover the 1.5.

Not the worst beat ever, but not a great one.

The worst beat of the week actually came from Arkansas STATE. Unfortunately, the video doesn't exist on social media (at least as far as I could find), so I'll do my best to recap it.

Arkansas State was a 3.5-point favorite over South Alabama in the Sun Belt Tournament semifinal. The Red Wolves led by eight points with 1:31 left on the clock.

The Jaguars got it to a four-point deficit, but Arkansas State stretched it back six points with just 38 seconds left. The Red Wolves inexplicably fouled a South Alabama player who was shooting a three-pointer on the next possession.

However, he missed two of the three free throws, keeping the lead at five points. Arkansas State went to the line and made two to make it a seven-point game with only 13 seconds left. That had to be good enough, right? Well, it's in the bad-beat section, so you already know the answer.

South Alabama made a layup, fouled, and Arkansas State made one-of-two free throws to get the lead up to six. The Jaguars hit a three with two seconds left and fouled Arkansas State with less than one second left on the clock.

All Arkansas State bettors needed was Terrance Ford Jr. (an 80 percent free-throw shooter) to make ONE of the two free throws.

But he missed both. Game over. Arkansas State wins, 74-71, failing to cover the 3.5 by just a half-point.

Brutal.

Some of OutKick's great college basketball coverage this past week…

Roundball roundup…

Please stop deciding games, referees…

This is one of the funniest "highlight" videos I've ever seen…

And this might be the funniest post-season quote I've ever seen…

St. Francis, arguably one of the worst teams in the NCAA Tournament, won the NEC on a late three-pointer…

Pepperdine guard Zion Bethea is, uh, well-traveled?

Want to see something included in a future "CBB With Danny Z"? Shoot me an email at dan.zaksheske@outkick.com or a tweet @RealDanZak.