Duke men’s basketball opened up the 2024-25 season against the Maine Black Bears this week in a nod to stud freshman Cooper Flagg’s home state. Flagg is poised to be college basketball’s main character this year, but the first few days of the season have already given us so many other cool moments, from Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner popping off for 49 points in the opener to Tre Johnson torching the nets for Texas to Joe Few becoming a household name for getting dunked on.
As Flagg was putting together an impressive performance in his college debut, it was a manager for Maine that stole the show. Simon Allen — who scored more than 1,000 points as a high school basketball player in the state — taunted the Cameron Crazies and then put on an amazing pre-game dunking display.
Duke crushed Maine in the opener, but Allen is getting just as many social media views as Flagg or freshman teammate Kon Knueppel. The Duke fans had no idea what they were in for when the Maine manager started chatting with them. Now everyone knows what Allen is capable of. Watch the viral video here:
Get this kid on the team! Maine hasn’t finished over .500 since 2009-2010. Next year, the Black Bears have Cooper Flagg’s twin brother Ace coming in. Are you telling me there’s no spot on the team for a capable high school scorer with legit above-the-rim athleticism?
Only college basketball can produce a viral moment like the dunking Maine basketball. It’s so great to have the sport back in our lives.
