Cooper Flagg, Duke, Win 92-52 in VABG Debut vs. 1948 NYU and All-time Great Schayes

Update 11/27/2025 — Post-Game Report

RESULT

While NYU’s overall defensive ratings (Dunk Adj) are very average at +0 — giving most Duke players a 51–64 dunk range — the specific matchups told a different story. NYU was able to assign one of the greatest players in the history of college and NBA basketball, Dolph Schayes, to guard Cooper Flagg, using Schayes’ –6 Adj to hold the projected No. 1 NBA pick to a 51–54 dunk range.

The strategy worked for a half. Flagg was held to just one bucket and two rebounds, and the 26-point underdog 1948 NYU team trailed only 28–27 at halftime.

However, Duke’s backcourt — Kon Knueppel and Tyrese Proctor — both stood seven inches taller than their 1948 counterparts and took over in the second half. They repeatedly attacked the rim and ultimately outscored NYU’s guards 45–19, powering an overwhelming 64–25 second half to secure a 92–52 victory.

Schayes finished with 15 points and seven rebounds in the loss.

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Original Pre-Game Preview

Cooper Flagg’s Value Add Basketball Game debut matched his 2025 Duke squad — ranked 23rd all-time in the game — against 272nd-ranked New York University (1948) (see rankings and results to date by clicking here). NYU appears in the game because Dolph Schayes, who passed away ten years ago at age 87, is ranked the 61st greatest college player of all time, qualifying his team for inclusion as one of our “teams with an all-time great player.” 

All five Duke starters from this team are already in the NBA, an amazing stat, but four of NYUs players on this 1948 team also made it to the NBA.

While Flagg led this Duke team to the Final Four as an 18-year-old, Schayes was even younger — only 16 years old — when he led NYU to the 1945 national championship game. Unfortunately, no reliable statistics exist for the 1945 season, so the version of NYU included in the game is based on Schayes’ senior year in 1948, a weaker statistical season for the team. 

Duke goes in as a heavy favorite, as their +7 rating (see just below all their cards) combined with NYUs -19 rating makes Duke a 26-point favorite in this opening round game. The ranking is like the season ratings at www.kenpom.com, but while those ratings tell you how good a current team is compared to the average D1 team this year, in the VABG game that rating shows how much better or worse each team is than the "average great team" which is roughly an Elite 8 team that was also ranked in the top 8 teams for the season as a whole.

We will add results after the game is played to kick off the tournament. You can click on the game above to get all great men's and women's teams, except for now you need to click here for the 16 new 2025 teams we just created.

Here is the box score.

 

Pos	Duke 2025	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Pts, Reb,Ast,Ht,pro?
1-PG	Kon Knueppel	27	1	10	4	4	4	2	0	3	14.4 Pts, 4.0 Reb, 6'7 NBA
2-SG	Tyrese Proctor	18	2	4	4	4	3	1	0	4	12.4 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 6'5 NBA
3-SG	Sion James	4	0	2	0	0	6	1	1	1	8.6 Pts, 4.2 Reb, 6'5 NBA
4-PF	Cooper Flagg	15	3	2	2	2	7	2	2	3	19.2 Pts, 7.5 Reb, 6'9 NBA
5-C	Khaman Maluach	8	0	4	0	0	8	1	3	2	8.6 Pts, 6.6 Reb, 7'2 NBA
Pos	Duke Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Pts, Reb,Ast,Ht,pro?
1-PG	Caleb Foster	4	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	4.9 Pts, 1.7 Reb, 6'5
2-SG	Isaiah Evans	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	6.8 Pts, 1.1 Reb, 6'6
3-SG	Maliq Brown	4	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	2.5 Pts, 3.7 Reb, 6'8
4-PF	Mason Gillis	4	0	2	0	0	4	0	0	1	4.1 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 6'6
5-C	Patrick Ngongba	6	0	3	0	0	4	0	0	1	3.9 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 6'11
	18 Turnovers	92	6	32	10	10	39	7	6	19
Pos	NYU 1948	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Pts, Reb,Ast,Ht,pro?
1-PG	Joe Dolhon	5	0	1	3	4	2	2	0	3	JR, 6'0, 8.2 ppg NBA
2-SG	Don Forman	14	1	3	5	6	4	2	3	3	SR, 5'10, 11.9 ppg
3-SG	Joel Kaufman	2	0	1	0	0	3	1	0	2	SO, 6'3, 8.3 ppg
4-PF	Ray Lumpp	13	0	5	3	5	5	1	0	2	SR, 17.1 ppg NBA
5-C	Dolph Schayes	14	0	6	2	2	7	2	1	1	SR, 6'7, 13.7 ppg NBA
Pos	NYU Bench	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Pts, Reb,Ast,Ht,pro?
1-PG	Tom Kelly	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	SR, 7.1 ppg NBA
2-SG	Joe DeBonis	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	SR,2.7 ppg
3-SG		0
4-PF		0
5-C		0
	18 Turnovers	52	1	18	13	17	24	8	4	13