Jim Boeheim Compares Duke Star Cooper Flagg To Larry Bird

Duke Blue Devils guard Cooper Flagg may only be a freshman, but he has really been turning some heads this season, and that includes some guys who know college hoops, including OutKick's Dan Dakich and legendary former Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim.

Boeheim was a guest on Tuesday's edition of Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich (which you can catch right here on Outkick on Monday through Friday from 9 to 11 am Eastern) and Flagg came up over the course of the interview.

Dakich said that Flagg is as good as he has ever seen in college basketball and even compared him to some of the superstars that Boeheim coached over his illustrious career like Carmelo Anthony and Anthony Davis.

"How good is Cooper Flagg when you compare him to someone like a (Kevin) Durant or a Carmelo?" Dakich asked.

Well, Boeheim had quite the compliment ready to go for the 6' 9" Maine native.

"I think he's almost — to me he's Bird-like a little bit," Boeheim said, comparing Flagg to Celtics legend Larry Bird. "Except, he's, y'know, quicker, faster, more athletic; he doesn't shoot (the ball) as well, but his shot is coming. His shot is there; it may not be there this year, but it's there. He's got a good release.

"People that say other people are better than him just don't know anything about basketball, I mean, it's just crazy," he said. "I don't know what they're watching, maybe they're just trying to be contrarian or something, I don't know, but Cooper Flagg, he's the best all-around player — in terms of doing all the things in college basketball — that I've seen."

While Boeheim conceded that there are players who may be better than Flagg in one facet of their game, none can do it all — including defend — the way Flagg has shown he can.

But there's one more thing about Flagg's game that stands out to Boeheim.

"The thing that he has — and I've talked to Coach K (former Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski) about this — he has an edge to him," Boeheim said. "He's not backing down from nobody.

Check out ‘Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich' weekday mornings on OutKick.com.