Skip Bayless has the Duke Blue Devils winning March Madness because of one player’s impressive skills.
The 2025 NCAA Tournament has kicked off and with that so have experts’ predictions about the competition’s eventual winners.
As usual, the top seeds in each bracket are expected to be the strongest teams in March Madness, including Duke Blue Devils.
Speaking of which, NBA analyst Skip Bayless has predicted that Duke will go the distance and he believes Cooper Flagg will play a key role in the process.
Bayless has made a living out of his controversial takes. The veteran sports analyst has once again made headlines by claiming Duke’s Cooper Flagg will be a better player than NBA legend Carmelo Anthony.
“My logic is simply this: Cooper Flagg is going to be a better NBA player than Carmelo Anthony ever was. So Cooper Flagg is about to be by far the best player in this tournament,” Bayless said on his podcast.
There is no doubt that Flagg is an excellent prospect. In fact, he’s even viewed as the consensus No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
While no one is denying Flagg’s potential, it may be too early to put him ahead of an NBA legend like Melo. Sure, Anthony retired without winning an NBA Championship, but he was one of the best scorers of his generation.
On top of that, Melo had a phenomenal NCAA career where he led the Syracuse Orange to the 2003 title as he was selected as the No. 3 overall pick in the legendary 2003 NBA Draft.
Coming back to Skip’s take on Flagg and Duke’s journey, he believes they will take on Auburn Tigers in the NCAA Tournament finals.
Bayless went as far as predicting the final play of the potential matchup.
“Duke will beat Auburn in the national championship game. I got Duke, 74, Auburn, 72, on two made free throws by the best player in college basketball by far, Cooper Flagg.”
As a 6’9″ forward, Flagg has averaged 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game for Duke over 32 contests.
Flagg and the Blue Devils are all set to begin their March Madness journey by taking on the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers in the first round.
