Cooper Flagg: the Great Maine Hope

The best player in college basketball is from small-town Maine. Is that a coincidence?

The big name in this year’s NCAA basketball tournament is #1 seed Duke’s freshman Cooper Flagg, the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year and frontrunner for National Player of the Year. He graduated from high school a year early so he turned 18 in the middle of Duke’s season. He should be in high school right now, but instead he is the most talked about player in college basketball.

Flagg is 6’9”, high-flying, and an all-arounder: and improving outside shooter, excellent dunker, rebounder, passer, and defender.

He is expected to turn pro after March Madness and be the first white American #1 pick in the NBA draft since Kent Benson in 1977. To emphasize his versatility, a few sportswriters even mention him in the same breath with LeBron James (which is silly, but still … LeBron!).

A few observations:

First, Flagg is a member of a growing group: star jocks whose moms played college sports. His 6’9” father played basketball in junior college, while his mother played for the U. of Maine. She’s a real basketball fanatic.

Second, it’s rare for athletically adept whites to skip a year of school. It’s more common for ambitious parents to hold back their sons for a year so they’ll be more mature than their competition and get more opportunities and better coaching.

Note that the advantages of being born in January over being born in December have been intensely studied in Canada, where kids born in January go thru their junior hockey careers being nearly a year older than kids born in December.

For instance, Wayne Gretzky, recognized from an early age as The Promised One (I can recall a friend telling me in college in 1979 in Houston, not exactly the nerve center of the ice hockey world, that it was common knowledge that the 18 year old Gretzky would of course become the greatest hockey player ever), was born January 26, 1961. This is not to say that Gretzky wouldn’t have become an all-time great if he’d been born a month before, but it wouldn’t have been so universally anticipated.

In contrast, Larry Walker, born December 1, 1966 in British Columbia was devoted to becoming an NHL hockey goalie until washing out at age 19. At that point he cast around for alternative careers involving his skill set, intercepting a hurtling projectile with a stick, and decided to get serious about baseball. In the half decade of 1997-2001, when he was 30 to 34, he batted .357, making the baseball Hall of Fame.

Third is the question of race and region. Do white NBA stars tend to come from areas where they grow up competing with and learning from blacks or do they tend to come from regions where they can mature without being crushed by early-maturing blacks?

Paywall here.

Flagg, for example, grew up in Newport, a town of 3,000 in central Maine which is 0.4% black. As a high school freshman he led Nokomis HS to the state title and was Maine’s player of the year at age 14.

To get him ready for his destiny, his family then moved to Florida so he could play at Montverde Academy, one of those Florida schools that fly around the country playing all the other superstar athletic programs.

A popular theory is that the best white basketball players are molded by playing against black competition when they are young, say, age 10 to 15.

I’ve long proposed the opposite theory that the best white basketball players tend to grow up in remote places far from large black populations, which allows them to mature at their own pace, especially around the time of puberty when blacks tend to get way ahead of whites physically.

I’ve finally collected some non-cherry-picked data on this question, although I’m not sure what it implies and I’d like your suggestions.

A website called Ranker has users vote on the top white NBA players of all time. It got over 20,000 votes in its poll with Larry Bird coming in first.

It seems like a reasonable list.

#4 Nikola Jokić, who has won three of the last four MVP awards, is the only reasonable competition with Bird.

Jokić is currently in a statistically neck and neck race for the 2025 NBA Most Valuable Player award with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, an African-Canadian player whose name is easier to pronounce than it looks: SHAY GHIL-jəs. The sports betting leeches are hugely favoring Gilgeous-Alexander, though, perhaps assuming that voters will be reluctant to promote Jokić over three-times winner Bird and Magic to the 4+ MVP empyrean inhabited only by Kareem (6 MVPs), MJ and Bill Russell (5 MVPs), and Wilt and LeBron (4 MVPs). The Serb Jokić is obviously a basketball genius, the Tesla of basketball, perhaps the greatest to ever play at a high level, but his lack of athleticism (at 6’-11”, he rarely dunks) worries Americans.

I’m not saying the Ranker rankings are perfect, just that they are good enough for my purpose, which is to show where the best white players grew up. Whether or not you think that Bird, Dirk Nowitzki, Jerry West, and Jokić are, in that order, the best white NBA players, they are clearly in the top 50 white NBA players.

I’d be particularly interested in where top 50 white players went to middle school, but nobody has that data. The Ranker list does have place of birth and I got ChatGPT to figure out the high school for all the Americans players.

I don’t have a way to quantify this list to settle the question, but it looks to me like there are several big clumps:

• Europeans: most, but not all, of these played before there were many blacks in Europe.

• North Americans from remote, highly white places like French Lick, Cabin Creek, Spokane, Victoria, and Hibbing.

• A few guys from the South during segregation, which was mostly football country, who didn’t officially play against blacks, but maybe they snuck out and played?

• Whites from well-to-do suburbs who could have their parents drive them downtown to play against the best inner city players, but, also, didn’t have to if they weren’t in the mood.

• Old-Timers from New York City: Bob Cousy, Chris Mullin, Billy Cunningham, and Dolph Schayes. They probably benefited from playing against blacks a lot.

So, here’s the Ranker voters Top 50 list. Substack doesn’t handle tables well.

Ranking Name Place of Birth High School High School Town High School State

1 Larry Bird French Lick Township, Indiana Springs Valley High School French Lick Indiana

French Lick, Indiana is a candidate for being the most famous rural white working class small town in America due to the Larry Bird connection and its wonderful name.

But it also had a resort with a casino that had brought in celebrities like Al Capone and FDR, so French Lick had a small population of blacks who worked at the resort. This was when whites liked giving blacks servile jobs. The young Larry Bird would go hang out with them to play basketball and learn to trash talk (at which he got very, very good).

2 Dirk Nowitzki Würzburg, Germany

Würzburg used to have some U.S. Army troops stationed nearby, so there’s some chance of black influence via that route.

3 Jerry West Chelyan, West Virginia East Bank High School East Bank West Virginia

Zeke from Cabin Creek. Granted, he wasn’t exactly from Cabin Creek, WV but close enough. And nobody ever called him “Zeke” to his face.

4 Nikola Jokić Sombor, Serbia

Sombor is not too close to the ‘hood.

5 John Stockton Spokane, Washington Gonzaga Preparatory School Spokane Washington

Spokane is 2.5% black.

6 Steve Nash Johannesburg, South Africa

And then his parents quickly got out of Dodge. Nash grew up in veddy veddy English Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. In 2001, twee Victoria was 0.34% African.

7 Luka Dončić Slovenia

Recently traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, as may have been mentioned in the press.

8 Pete Maravich Aliquippa, Pennsylvania Daniel High School Central South Carolina

His dad was a basketball coach in the South during segregation. This one could go either way. Did the insanely creative Maravich sneak out and play ball with the Brothers? I don’t know. My impression in the 1990s when I last watched a fair amount of basketball, was that white players (e.g., Jeff Hornacek) were by then more weirdly creative on offense than black players (e.g., the ruthlessly efficient Michael Jordan). But nobody else argued that, so I dunno.

9 John Havlicek Martins Ferry, Ohio Bridgeport High School Bridgeport Ohio

Bridgeport is across the Ohio River from industrial Wheeling, WV, which is about 5% black.

10 Kevin McHale Hibbing, Minnesota Hibbing High School Hibbing Minnesota

Hibbing is a small town in the Mesabi iron ore range near Duluth. It is 1.5% black. McHale is its second most famous son after Bob Dylan.

11 Rick Barry Elizabeth, New Jersey Roselle Park High School Roselle Park New Jersey

Roselle Park is a mostly white suburb near the Newark airport. I presume Barry had plenty of chances to play against blacks.

12 Bill Walton La Mesa, California Helix High School La Mesa California

La Mesa is a suburb of San Diego, with a larger black population than you might think: 8% in 2010. Black kids from La Mesa include USC Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush. Walton would probably be top 5 if you include college careers as well as the NBA.

13 Bob Cousy Manhattan, New York, USA Andrew Jackson High School Cambria Heights New York

Cambria Heights is in Queens, so Cousy probably played against blacks a lot.

14 Bob Pettit Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge High School Baton Rouge Louisiana

Louisiana schools were segregated in Pettit’s era.

15 Pau Gasol Barcelona, Spain

The 7’ tall Gasol Brothers were the sons of Spanish M.D.s.

16 Chris Mullin New York City, New York Xaverian High School Brooklyn New York

Mullin famously played playground basketball in the blackest neighborhoods of the Bronx and Harlem. He’s probably the best supporting example of the conventional wisdom that white basketball players benefit from adolescent exposure to blacks.

17 George Mikan Joliet, Illinois Joliet Catholic Academy Joliet Illinois

Joliet was 16% black in 2010. I don’t know about Mikan’s day. He’s the earliest player on this Top 50 White Player list.

18 Kevin Love Santa Monica, California Lake Oswego High School Lake Oswego Oregon

Lake Oswego, an inner suburb of Portland, is 1% black. Love’s uncle Mike Love was in the Beach Boys.

19 Jason Williams Belle, West Virginia DuPont High School Belle West Virginia

“Super Cracker,” as his black high school teammates called him, was the second best basketball player at his high school. The best was NFL all-timer Randy Moss. “White Chocolate” may have had the blackest, most Harlem playground game of any of the top 50 white players, despite growing up in very white West Virginia.

20 Mark Price Bartlesville, Oklahoma Enid High School Enid Oklahoma

Enid is a small city an hour outside of Tulsa that is 3% black.

21 Arvydas Sabonis Kaunas, Lithuania

Sabonis, who didn’t play in the NBA until age 30 and after numerous surgeries, might well compete with Bird, Jokić, and Walton as the best white player ever if you include his non-NBA accomplishments, such as beating the US Olympic team in 1988.

22 Marc Gasol Barcelona, Spain

Spaniards used to be stereotyped as short.

23 Peja Stojaković Slavonska Požega, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia

Note that Pete Maravich was half-Serb.

24 Domantas Sabonis Portland, Oregon, USA

The son of #21, he suggests, without regression toward the mean, that his dad might have deserved to rank much higher.

25 Jerry Lucas Middletown, Ohio Middletown High School Middletown Ohio

Jack Nicklaus, who held the Ohio high school basketball record by making, IIRC, 26 consecutive free throws, expected to walk-on the Buckeye basketball team. But he found out that John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas were in a whole ‘nother league. Lucas was rather like #18 Kevin Love. You couldn’t believe his statistics, but, on the other hand, he was awfully sneaky. Here’s the awkward-looking Love shutting down the elegant Stephen Curry in the crisis of the 7th game of the 2016 NBA championship in which LeBron brought home a championship to Cleveland.

26 Dave Cowens Newport, Kentucky Newport Catholic High School Newport Kentucky

Cowens was awesome, like a taller Havlicek.

27 Gail Goodrich Los Angeles, California John H. Francis Polytechnic High School Sun Valley California

Northeastern San Fernando Valley.

28 Kristaps Porzingis Ventspils, Latvia

It’s hard to keep straight the tall Balkan and Baltic countries.

29 Tom Chambers Ogden, Utah Fairview High School Boulder Colorado

I dunno, he was pretty good.

30 Andrei Kirilenko Izhevsk, Russia

Him too.

31 Detlef Schrempf Leverkusen, West Germany

I saw Schrempf play against Michael Jordan in the 1984 Olympics for $60, the highest price I paid. It was reasonably exciting, but if you are going to the 2028 Olympics in L.A., I’d advise you to focus on gold medal matches rather than preliminaries.

32 Dave DeBusschere Detroit, Michigan Austin Catholic Preparatory School Detroit Michigan

Augustinian Prep closed in 1978 because there were few Catholics left in Detroit.

33 Danny Ainge Eugene, Oregon, USA North Eugene High School Eugene Oregon

Ainge was rare player in both the NBA and baseball MLB.

34 Vlade Divac Prijepolje, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia

It’s almost as if people of the Dinaric Alps tend to be tall.

35 Gordon Hayward Indianapolis, Indiana Brownsburg High School Brownsburg Indiana

Brownburg is a white suburb of rather black Indianapolis

36 Billy Cunningham New York City, New York Erasmus Hall High School Brooklyn New York

Another white old-timer from New York.

37 Kyle Korver Lakewood, California Pella High School Pella Iowa

Pella, Iowa is home to a Vermeer Manufacturing factory. It is 1% black. The four Korver brothers were standout hoopsters.

38 Jeff Hornacek Elmhurst, Illinois Lyons Township High School La Grange Illinois

Was Hornacek an early Balkan star? He seemed to me one of the most creative offensive players of the 1990s.

39 Jack Sikma Kankakee, Illinois St. Anne High School St. Anne Illinois

Kankakee is 41% black.

40 Dan Majerle Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City High School Traverse City Michigan

Traverse City is in the far north of Michigan’s lower peninsula.

41 Bill Laimbeer Boston, Massachusetts, USA Palos Verdes High School Palos Verdes Estates California

Palos Verdes is a beautiful suburb overlooking the Pacific. Laimbeer is perhaps the most hated NBA player of the last half century, but he and Dennis Rodman were perhaps the most brutal defensive team ever.

42 J. J. Redick Cookeville, Tennessee Cave Spring High School Roanoke Virginia

Redick was the only player in the NBA with wingspan shorter than his height.

43 Rick Smits Enidhoven, Netherlands

The Dutch might be the tallest race on Earth, but they mostly prefer soccer to basketball.

44 Dan Issel Batavia, Illinois Batavia High School Batavia Illinois

I presume that voters are including ABA statistics in with NBA stats. The ABA in the 1970s had awesome mid-sized players like 6’-7” Julius Erving and 6’-9” Dan Issel but they missed out on the aircraft carriers like 7’-2” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

ABA commissioner George Mikan, a lawyer, carried into a meeting with UCLA star Lew Alcindor (a.k.a., Kareem) a certified check for $1,000,000 to back up the ABA’s plan to build an ABA Finals worthy franchise in either Alcindor’s hometown of New York or his college town of Los Angeles: Lew, it’s your choice: L.A. or NYC, a million dollars, and a worthy supporting cast, you choose.

That was a great plan.

But Mikan didn’t pull the million dollar check out of his pocket, and Abdul-Jabbar eventually signed with depressing Milwaukee of the NBA, before finally engineering a trade to the Lakers a half dozen years later.

45 Steve Kerr Beirut, Lebanon Palisades Charter High School Los Angeles California

His father Malcolm Kerr taught at the American University of Beirut, then became vice-chancellor of UCLA. I can recall when I was at UCLA and Dr. Kerr left his really nice job in really nice Westwood to become the president of his family vocation, the AUB in the middle of the Lebanese Civil War. He was assassinated after a few years.

46 Mark Eaton Westminster, California Westminster High School Westminster California

One of the slowest maturers in NBA history. He didn’t like basketball, so he was a 7’3” auto mechanic before somebody convinced him to try basketball. When I was at UCLA, he only played the last couple of minutes of blowouts. He eventually played in an NBA All-Star game.

47 Steven Adams Rotorua, New Zealand

Also part Maori.

48 Bobby Jones Charlotte, North Carolina South Mecklenburg High School Charlotte North Carolina

Bobby Jones was back during the 1970s-early 1980s when everybody expected white players to be better defensive players than black players. Since then, blacks have improved tremendously at defense.

49 Goran Dragić Ljubljana, Slovenia

OK, I’ve finally run out of any comments to make other than that Slovenia is a pretty nice place to be from. I actually have no idea who Goran Dragić is.

50 Dolph Schayes New York City, New York DeWitt Clinton High School Bronx New York

This was back when the Bronx was mostly white but schools were integrated. DeWitt Clinton HS was the biggest high school in the world with up to 12,000 students. Schayes’ schoolmates included writers Neil Simon and James Baldwin.

Only three of the top 50 white players are Americans who joined the NBA in this century: Gordon Hayward, Kyle Korver, and J.J. Redick.