Cooper Flagg was one of the best players in college basketball. He turned 18 during his freshman season and went on to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft for the Dallas Mavericks.
Before getting to the next level, Flagg and Duke made a deep run in the NCAA tournament. They were the bracket's No. 1 overall seed, and made it to the Final Four. While the Cameron Crazies were sure to travel well to support their team, likely no fan was louder than Flagg's own mom, who had been a vocal supporter of her son during his freshman year.
Kelly Flagg had quickly risen to become the Blue Devil's No. 1 fan. She was often seen at home games loudly cheering for the team, but not all of her cheers were G-rated. Flagg has no problem using colorful sentence enhancers to troll the other team and try to inspire Duke to play better.
While Cooper is the most prominent member of the Flagg family, his mother Kelly is no stranger to the court. She also played college basketball. Here's a look back on her playing career.
MORE: Where Cooper Flagg ranks among the youngest players in the NBA
Where did Cooper Flagg's mom go to college?
Flagg is from Maine. Cooper was born in Newport, Maine and attended Nokomis Regional High School in Newport before transferring to Monteverde in Florida to focus on basketball. Kelly Flagg, then Kelly Bowman, is also from Maine and attended Nokomis Regional High School, scoring 1,257 points in her career. She attended the University of Maine and played basketball there. Flagg played all four seasons and helped the Bears to four NCAA Tournament appearances.
MORE:What to know about NBA rookie patches
Kelly Flagg basketball career
We have access to three seasons of Flagg's stats when she was at Maine via SportsReference. From the records available, Flagg played in 46 games and averaged 4.6 points and 2.7 rebounds. She was part of the Bears team that pulled an upset over No. 7 Stanford in the first round of the 1999 Women's NCAA Tournament.
"It fills us both with an immense amount of pride" 👏@TheAndyKatz chatted with Cooper Flagg's parents after the freshman was named AP Player of the Year 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/gnfnZdYp0r
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 4, 2025
MORE:Meet Cooper Flagg's 3-star recruit brother
What position did Kelly Flagg play?
Flagg stands at 5-foot-11. She was listed as a guard-forward at Maine, so she likely played a mix of small forward and shooting guard. Flagg wasn't nearly as dominant as her son is, but she also got to experience the NCAA Tournament.
MORE:Inside Cooper Flagg's family tree, including twin brother Ace