March Madness is in full swing. The First Four games have wrapped up, the bracket has been set, and the first matchups of the annual event have already kicked off. Skip Bayless took to X to announce his favorite to win it all, siding with the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils.
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It’s not a courageous pick by any means, but Bayless explained that the last two times he chose correctly gave him confidence in his decision this season. Skip said the first time he won a bracket challenge was in 1993, when Michigan’s “Fab Five” memorably choked away the contest after Chris Webber called a timeout the team didn’t have.
It was a bold decision to side with North Carolina over Michigan that year but not as impressive as his choice to select three-seeded Syracuse as the winner in 2003. Bayless pointed to Carmelo Anthony as the sole reason he went with the underrated Orange, and he’s taking a similar route with Cooper Flagg and Duke this season.
Skip shared his belief that Anthony was better than any other player in college basketball at the time, and the same applies to Duke’s star big man this year. Skip’s confidence in Duke comes from his strong belief that Flagg will be a sensation at the next level.
“My logic, simply this: Cooper Flagg is going to be a better NBA player than Carmelo Anthony ever was,” Bayless said, backing up his reasoning for picking Duke as the winner. “So Cooper Flagg is about to be by far the best player in this tournament.”
Skip pointed to Flagg’s recent ankle injury as a possible concern, but he believes that if the 18-year-old big man is even close to 100% for six games, Duke will be cutting down the nets when it’s all said and done.
“Duke will beat Auburn in the national championship game,” Bayless added. “I got Duke, 74, Auburn, 72, on two made free throws by the best player in college basketball by far, Cooper Flagg.
Cooper Flagg’s ankle injury could put a snag in Duke’s title hopes
While it doesn’t appear to be a long-term problem, Cooper Flagg’s ankle injury did keep him out for the majority of Duke’s ACC tournament championship run. The teenage phenom claimed he was “feeling good” following the injury, but there is still some concern that he won’t be at full strength for his team’s first March Madness game.
The Blue Devils take on 16-seed Mount St. Mary’s on Friday, a contest Duke should handle easily even if Flagg isn’t 100%. Duke boasts the biggest spread in the first round, favored to beat down the Mountaineers by 32 points. The road won’t get any easier from there, though.
Duke will likely have to face two other powerhouses in four-seeded Arizona and two-seeded Alabama on their road to the Final Four. If Flagg isn’t completely ready to go within the next week, Duke could exit the tournament earlier than most expected.
