In fact, nothing about No. 4 Duke’s Saturday date in Dallas with SMU could reasonably be considered close. The Blue Devils, for lack of a softer phrase, slaughtered the Mustangs. Duke’s defense was typically excellent,

Cooper Flagg’s fifth double-double of the season allowed the Duke Blue Devils to overcome head coach Jon Scheyer’s absence and beat SMU on Saturday.

Tyrese Proctor and Kon Knueppel each had 14 points for the Blue Devils, which had a 42-24 advantage in points in the paint.

As Duke men’s basketball prepares to take on a resurgent SMU squad, the Blue Zone previews the encounter with an overview and X-Factor.

The Blue Devils are led by standout freshman Cooper Flagg, a preseason first-team All-American and the top-rated recruit in the Class of 2024. He’ll be SMU’s biggest challenge, averaging nearly 17 points and over eight rebounds per game.

But it just seems like what Cooper Flagg is doing at Duke should be a bigger story than it is. Do you agree? Yes, I understand that Flagg entered college with an unusual amount of hype that's even led to a "Cooper Flagg Tracker" here at CBSSports.

Thanks to a pair of 24-point performances against Virginia Tech and SMU last week, Duke freshman Cooper Flagg swept the ACC Player of the Week and ACC Rookie of the Week awards for the second time on Monday.

The projected No. 1 overall draft pick has been as close to flawless as anyone could ever expect from a Duke basketball freshman.

Duke superstar Cooper Flagg led the Blue Devils to an 89-62 win over SMU with 24 points and 11 rebounds. After another ACC win for Duke, an ESPN college basketball reporter shared his postgame thoughts on Flagg's development.