Team USA Basketball: Cooper Flagg leads college players who could help the 3×3 team at 2024 Paris Olympics

Team USA fell to 0-4 in men’s basketball pool play at the 2024 Paris Olympics with a 20-18 loss to Lithuania followed by a 21-19 loss to Latvia on Thursday. It certainly hasn’t been the showing the Americans were looking for in their first Olympic competition.

The team’s biggest-name player by far is Jimmer Fredette. The former BYU star played six seasons in the NBA but hasn’t been in the league since 2019. Joining him in France are …

• Dylan Travis, who played NAIA, junior college and won a Division II national title at Florida Southern before playing overseas in Germany and Australia. His last of five professional seasons was in 2019.
• Canyon Barry, who started his college career at College of Charleston and finished it at Florida. He has played in Finland, the Czech Republic and, most recently, in the G League for the Iowa Wolves. He’s the son of Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Barry and shoots underhand free throws just like his dad did, too.
• Kareem Maddox, who played at Princeton and then the Netherlands, Great Britain and Poland. He has not played traditional five-on-five basketball professionally since 2017.

How did this group come together? Well, in order to even be eligible to play for the U.S., you have to play in sanctioned 3×3 events. You earn points for playing (and playing well) in more events, and USA Basketball selects a team from training camp. That’s why these guys haven’t played professional five-on-five basketball recently; they have to be 3×3 players. At this year’s training camp, Fredette, Travis, Barry and Maddox were chosen over a plethora of other names who would be most recognized by only the most die-hard college basketball (and, in some cases, NBA) fans.

The 3×3 game is very fast-paced, as it’s played on half of a court with a 12-second shot clock and continuous action unless there’s a foul, a violation or the ball goes out of bounds. As such, you look for a group with the athleticism and versatility to defend and score against multiple positions but also want to fill several traditional needs of any 5×5 team, namely ball handling, shooting, scoring and on-ball defending.

The CBS Sports experts identified the top college teams that could produce three players who could win a gold medal in 3×3 basketball, CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn took a look at four NBA players who could improve the 3×3 team, and here we’re doing the same for men’s college basketball.

Cooper Flagg, Duke

Yes, we’re counting Flagg as a college basketball player even though he’s yet to play in a Division I game. The Duke freshman has already impressed playing against the best players in the world as a member of the Team USA Select Team and is the shoo-in projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Adam Finkelstein, the director of scouting for 247Sports, had this to say about one of the top recruit in the class:

Cooper Flagg is an elite two-way prospect. His instincts are off the charts on both ends of the floor and he competes with a quiet type of killer instinct. He’s a defensive standout and particularly dominant as an off-ball defender. In fact, he’s as good of an underclassman shot-blocker as I’ve seen at his size. Offensively, he’s an excellent passer with a good foundation of early skill and developing playmaking ability. His footwork is excellent. His shooting and handling are both good and continuously improving. He doesn’t necessarily need to be the focal point on that end of the floor, but he’s shown he’s plenty capable of it. Physically, Flagg’s frame is solid enough to absorb contact now and will only add additional muscle mass in the coming years.

Flagg’s size, athleticism, defense, competitiveness and well-rounded offensive game make him an easy pick to be on this hypothetical team.

Mark Sears, Alabama

Sears can do a bit of everything. He’s a strong driver of the ball, excellent shooter and very good passer who has grown leaps and bounds in his time at Alabama. Sears is also a dogged competitor who would fit in really well as a guy who can score but doesn’t have to score to play at a high level.

Sears shot a red-hot 43.6% from 3-point range last year, and he also shot 85.7% on free throws, a key aspect in 3×3 play. Plus, the quickness of the game wouldn’t bother him as he already leads the charge for a team that plays at the nation’s fastest tempo. Sears would be a natural fit who can catch and shoot, drive, create his own shot and dish off to teammates.

Alex Karaban, UConn

If we’re looking for a championship, we have to bring along a champion, right? Karaban is the only returning starter from two-time reigning champion UConn, and he’d be a strong fit on 3×3, just as he is in five-on-five basketball.

Karaban stands 6-foot-8 and weighs a sturdy 225 pounds, but he combines that size with excellent shooting — 38.9% from 3-point range and 85.2% from the free-throw line in his career — and an improved interior game. Karaban shot 64% on 2-pointers last year after shooting 58.7% inside the arc in 2022-23. Karaban is also a solid rebounder and defender. Plus, having played under Dan Hurley, Karaban has the creativity, attention to detail and intensity to be a great addition here. He would be an absolute nightmare for opponents to defend as a floor spacer and in the pick-and-pop game.

Hunter Dickinson, Kansas

This was a really tough call — I’ll explain for a bit — but for the team’s primary big man, we go with the offensive-minded choice. Dickinson would be impossible to defend in the post, especially given the spacing afforded to players in 3×3. He has a terrific repertoire down low, and at 7-2 and 265 pounds, when he gets to his spots, there’s little opponents can do to stop him.

But what really stands out here is Dickinson’s non-scoring offensive abilities. The Kansas star is a terrific passer, which is an absolute must in 3×3, and he can stretch the floor from beyond the arc as a 35.6% career 3-point shooter. He also owns the boards and is a good shot blocker, too. Where Dickinson might struggle is defending in space, but we’re willing to take the offensive advantages over the potential defensive drawbacks.

Honorable mentions

• Ryan Kalkbrenner received heavy consideration here. The three-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year anchors Creighton’s defense and would do the same in 3×3. For such a large player, he moves his feet outstandingly and does a terrific job defending without fouling. Offensively, Kalkbrenner has a soft touch around the rim and would be more of a mobile lob threat than Dickinson. If you wanted to put Kalkbrenner over Dickinson, I wouldn’t argue with you.
• Johnell Davis is the perfect combination of shooting, scoring, ball handling and positional versatility, and John Calipari will certainly use all of that in his (and Davis’) first year at Arkansas. Davis was the No. 1 transfer in David Cobb’s rankings, and I wrote about why he’s such a natural fit in any setting.
• Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper — Rutgers’ freshman phenoms — could easily get a nod here. For now, though, we’re sticking with just one incoming freshman, and it’s hard to beat Flagg.
• North Carolina’s RJ Davis and his former Duke rival Jeremy Roach (now at Baylor) would be strong fits as the team’s leading ball handler. Davis is more of a scorer and a terrific shooter; Roach is more of a traditional point guard. Sears fits both categories, though, and that’s why he gets the nod.