The 2024 freshman class has lived up to its high expectations so far, but two have stuck out as the highest performers of the group. Duke Blue Devils forward Cooper Flagg and Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Dylan Harper have firmly positioned themselves to be the No. 1 and No. 2 selections in the 2025 NBA Draft — but who’s had the better freshman season?
Deep-Dive Comparison: Cooper Flagg vs. Dylan Harper
In this piece, I’ll walk us through each of the major skill sets a basketball player can possess — scoring, playmaking, rebounding, defense, and winning impact. For each category, I’ll pick a winner.
It’s worth noting that both players have filled (and will at the next level) different roles this season. After all, Harper is a strong 6’6″, 215-pound point guard, while Flagg is a long and rangy 6’9″, 205-pound forward with guard capabilities.
But when it comes time for the NBA Draft, these are the five main components scouts and analysts alike will be studying.
Scoring Ability
Statistics-wise, both average just above 19.0 ppg. However, they score in vastly different ways.
Flagg isn’t a natural-born scorer. The comparison is significantly too rich, but it’s worth thinking about Flagg’s mindset as it relates to a LeBron James-esque view of the game. James has a keen eye towards keeping others involved before having the ability to take over a game.
The Blue Devils star has a very similar mentality — although some would say he hasn’t tapped into the takeover ability as much as they’d like to see.
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He does have a requisite three-point shot, shooting 37.5% from beyond the arc on 4.1 attempts per game. He’s extremely athletic with a quick first step, which allows him to blow by the larger defenders that tend to guard him. At 6’9″, he’s shown a nice ability to hit turnaround jumpers, albeit a tad inconsistently.
The Maine native has had trouble in go-to scoring moments this season, notably turning the ball over in the final possession of games against Kentucky and Kansas early in the season.
All told, Flagg has all the tools to become a great scorer — he just has to put it together, which will take time.
Harper on the other hand, is already a prolific scorer at the college level.
He’s a true three-level scorer with the comfortability to shoot from deep and get all the way to the rim while getting to his spots in the midrange.
At 215 pounds, Harper doesn’t have the coveted straight-line speed that some point guards have, but he still has a very quick first step and uses his body well on drives to the hoop. When he isn’t able to rise up above the rim — which he’s shown a capability of doing — Harper has great body control and footwork in the paint, a la Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks.
Some may say it’s a lazy comparison due to both being left-handed, but each player uses their body extremely well and finishes at an above-average rate under the rim.
Whereas it isn’t out of the ordinary for Flagg to pick up two or three baskets a game on the fast break, Harper is a pure go-to scorer at the point guard position.
Winner: Harper
Playmaking
Once again, both players come out to an average of just over 4.0 apg, leaving this up for interpretation.
Harper is the Scarlet Knights’ point guard, running the show for the entire team while playing a majority of the game. His assists come mostly out of the pick-and-roll or on drive-and-kicks, where he’s able to find open shooters in the wings and corners.
He’s certainly no slouch as a passer, but this is the skill that puts Flagg above most other young players.
Flagg is the prototypical player who makes everyone around him better with his unselfishness and creative passing ability. Although he is 6’9″, he’s not a typical high-post forward. Instead, he functions more as a supporting guard who constantly makes the right passes when they come along.
While not being the main ball-handler, he leads the team in assists with 4.1 apg. Normally, players who possess the athleticism and talent that Flagg has are doing everything they can to score the ball.
Flagg is the rare top player whose passing ability, although being a secondary skill to his soon-to-be elite scoring, raises the ceiling as a team-building prospect.
Winner: Flagg
Rebounding
This part of the game may automatically favor the taller player, which in this comparison is Flagg. He is averaging 7.6 rpg, proving to be able to find the ball and mix it up down low even with his slender frame — 6.2 of those rebounds come on the defensive end of the floor, finishing possessions for the Blue Devils.
But it’s also worth saying that Harper has been a solid rebounder for his size and position as well. He’s grabbing 4.6 rpg, the second-highest mark on the team.
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Some of those are inevitable to come due to the amount of time he spend on the floor, but his 6’6″ frame also gives him an advantage over the players he’s guarding on the defensive end in terms of snagging the board.
Flagg takes this one, as he’s shown himself to be a terrific rebounder, but don’t get it twisted — this is also a strength of Harper’s game.
Winner: Flagg
Defense
This is Flagg’s specialty. When he became known as one of the best players on the EYBL Circuit with his AAU team, Maine United, it was Flagg’s defense that caught people’s attention right away.
His length and athleticism are a vital piece of his defensive ability, allowing him to make splash plays — highlight-reel blocks and breakaway steals leading to run-outs. In fact, he’s leading the Blue Devils in both steals and blocks, with 1.1 bpg and 1.5 spg.
But it’s not just the highlight-worthy plays that he makes; Flagg’s versatility has also been on full display this season. With the exception of big, burly centers, he can guard positions one through five. His switch-ability is an asset for Duke and will be for whatever NBA team is lucky enough to draft him.
Harper has shown flashes of becoming a solid defender this season, but too many times he’s looked uninterested on that side of the floor.
That could very well be due to the load he has to carry offensively — he’s noticeably trying to catch his wind on defense. The question arises of whether he’ll ever become an above-average defender. At 6’6″, he does have positional size, which can be an advantage — but it also makes guarding smaller players a tougher task.
He isn’t the athlete that Flagg is, although he’s still able to steal the ball here and there. Despite having nine games with zero steals, he’s averaging 1.4 spg this season. Against USC and Michigan, he looked particularly locked in on that end, recording nine total steals in back-to-back games.
Ultimately, this is the side of the floor where Flagg excels most. If his offensive game fails to develop or is ineffective at the next level, he’ll always have his defense to fall back on. Harper on the other hand, is much more reliant on his offense to succeed.
Winner: Flagg
Winning Impact
This is difficult to equate between these two because of what’s around each of them on their respective teams.
Flagg has been the engine behind a top-five team in the nation for much of the year; but he’s also aided by two more potential lottery picks in freshman Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach, and veteran guards Tyrese Proctor and Sion James.
Meanwhile, Harper has another top-five pick, Ace Bailey, as his sidekick, but no one else averages more than eight ppg. With no other needle-movers on the team, it’s all up to the creation of two 18-year-olds. That’s resulted in the Scarlet Knights hovering at or below .500 all season.
While the context certainly matters, the entire makeup of Flagg screams “winner.”
That doesn’t mean Harper isn’t a winner in his own right, but the way the Blue Devils’ star has such an unselfish view of the game, sharing for others before himself, while being able to score nearly 20 ppg combined with the versatility and flashes he shows defensively — he’s just a complete basketball player and someone that every winning team wants and usually has.
Winner: Flagg
The Final Call: Cooper Flagg vs. Dylan Harper
Taking in every part of their game, Flagg takes the throne here.
Harper is a terrific talent and has been one of the most impressive freshmen we’ve seen in college basketball in recent years. The hype the five star entered with heading into Rutgers — as well as being the son of former NBA veteran Ron Harper — has been justified, as he’s certainly matched, if not exceeded, expectations.
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Flagg came into the season as essentially a lock to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft; Harper’s play has at least cast a small shadow of doubt upon that, forcing scouts and analysts to take a deeper look.
But after establishing himself as without a doubt one of the top-two players in college basketball — along with Auburn’s Johni Broome, who is Flagg’s only competition for the Naismith National Player of the Year Award — the Duke phenom has emphatically made it known through his play on the court that he’s the top freshman in 2025.
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