The Cal and Stanford basketball teams will be introduced to a hoops legend this week. And perhaps a future legend.

The Bears (12-12, 5-8) and Cardinal (16-8, 8-5) make their first treks as new members of the Atlantic Coast Conference to fabled Cameron Indoor Stadium to face No. 3 Duke (20-3, 12-1) on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.

There is no basketball facility in American quite like Duke’s 9,314-seat arena, built in 1940 and home to generations of student fans known as “Cameron Crazies.”

The two Bay Area squads also will get their first look at freshman forward Cooper Flagg,  already emerging as a Duke legend even as he’s projected to become the No. 1 pick in this summer’s NBA draft.

A 6-foot-9 native of the hoops hotbed of Newport, Maine, Flagg has exceeded expectations. He leads the Blue Devils in scoring (19.5) rebounds (7.7), assists (4.0), steals (1.5) and blocked shots (1.3). He scored an ACC freshman-record 42 points in a win over Notre Dame and posted 21 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks in his first North Carolina-Duke game, sparking an 87-70 victory.

Duke’s Cooper Flagg, left, finishes a dunk ahead of Pittsburgh’s Cameron Corhen, middle, and Pittsburgh’s Guillermo Diaz Graham (25) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Durham, N.C., Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown) 

ESPN college basketball analyst and Duke alum Jay Bilas called him “the most advanced freshman in every facet of the game that Duke’s had.

“I’m not saying he’s the most talented. There have been some great freshmen here. But what he’s doing on a competitive level—he’s the most competitive freshman I’ve seen. It’s just on a different level with him.”

The Bears and Cardinal understand they’re going to have their hands full with this guy.

Cal coach Mark Madsen, noting the combination of his size, length,  shooting prowess and ability to see over defenses to pass the ball, labeled Flagg “incredibly unique.”

“He kind of has that balance between scoring and taking over games and then involving his teammates and making them better,” Madsen said. “I think Cooper Flagg is a tremendous talent. He is the best player in college basketball. He’s on his way to becoming an unbelievable NBA player.”

Duke’s Cooper Flagg, front right, blocks a shot by Wake Forest’s Juke Harris, third from left, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Winston-Salem, N.C., Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown) 

Madsen stopped short of comparing Flagg to anyone currently at the pro level. “If I compared him to certain NBA players, in a way it’s unfair to Cooper. Cooper can do some things that some of those guys can’t,” Madsen said.

Stanford coach Kyle Smith said he’s perhaps most impressed by the impact Flagg can have on a game defensively as a freshman.

“He’s a really good two-way player. He’s a really good competitor,” said Smith, saying he first saw those qualities while watching him as an elite summer-league prospect. “Kind of like Grant Hill and Christian Laettner combined, blending those two together, skill-wise and that competitive spirit.”

It’s been seven seasons since Cal or Stanford crossed paths with a future No. 1 draft pick. That was during the 2017-18 season, when each went 0-2 vs. Arizona and big man Deandre Ayton, who averaged 23 points and 15.5 rebounds against the Bears and 10.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 4.0 blocks vs. the Cardinal.

Stanford pulled off a second-round 2014 NCAA tournament win over Kansas, holding Andrew Wiggins to four points. Cal did the same thing in 2013, limiting future NBA bust Anthony Bennett to seven points on 1-for-5 shooting in an opening-round NCAA win over UNLV.

Stanford lost 73-65 in overtime to Kentucky and John Wall (23 points) in 2010, and 89-55 to No. 1 North Carolina and center Brad Daugherty (10 points) on Dec. 20, 1985.

But the Cardinal got the last word against Wake Forest and Tim Duncan (18 points, 20 rebounds), winning 72-66 in the 1997 NCAAs, and turning back Pacific and Michael Olowokandi (26 points, 11 rebounds, 4 blocked shots) a year later.

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Everyone in the old Pac-8, of course, had more their fill of UCLA’s 1960s/‘70s dynasty. Cal and Stanford combined to go 0-24 vs. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) and Bill Walton, big men for the ages.

Coach Pete Newell’s Cal teams famously twice beat Oscar Robertson in the 1959 and ’60 NCAA tournaments, despite the Cincinnati superstar totaling 37 points, 19 rebounds and 19 assists. The Bears weren’t as successful against Seattle’s Elgin Baylor (26 points, 18 rebounds), falling in the 1958 NCAAs.

Remarkably, neither San Francisco’s Bill Russell or Kansas phenom Wilt Chamberlain was a No. 1 draft pick. The Celtics got Russell at No. 2 because the financially struggling Rochester Royals weren’t sure they could afford him. Chamberlain was chosen by Philadelphia as a territorial pick.

But both players coulda/shoulda been No. 1s and they combined to go 5-0 against Cal and 1-0 vs. Stanford.

ACC women

Cal dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time in eight weeks after being swept last week at Louisville and new No. 2 Notre Dame but received the most votes of any team not making the list. The Bears (19-6, 7-5 ACC) play four of their final six games of the regular season at Haas Pavilion, starting Thursday against Boston College.

The Bears enter the week No .37 in the NET ratings.

Stanford faces a more difficult challenge to reach the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal is 11-12 overall (3-9 in the ACC) but is 51st in the NET ratings. Stanford, the only team with a losing record in the NET rankings’ Top 60, hasn’t missed the NCAAs since 1987 and could extend that streak with a strong finish. The Cardinal also plays four of its final six regular season games at home, where it is 10-1. Stanford faces Syracuse (10-13, 4-8 ACC) on Thursday night and Boston College (13-13, 4-9 ACC) on Sunday. The Cardinal has games remaining against three teams that entering the week have winning records: on the road at Virginia Tech (16-8) and at home to end the regular season against Georgia Tech (20-4) and Miami (13-10).

The rest of the Bay Area women’s teams will need a conference tournament championship and automatic bid to reach the NCAA  Tournament. Based on the NET rankings, USF is 153rd, Saint Mary’s is 199th, Santa Clara is 207th and San Jose State is 291st.