Ace Flagg, the twin brother of the projected first pick in the NBA Draft Cooper FlagIt is “coming home.” The forward from Newport, Maine, announced his commitment to the University of Maine on Tuesday.

Cooper has already made plenty of headlines as the hype surrounding the Duke The phenomenon grows at the start of his freshman campaign, but Ace has earned college interest in his own right, choosing Maine on W.V., Richmond and George Washington, among others, according to ESPN.

In a fitting twist for the brothers, the No. 7 Blue Devils begin their 2024-25 season by hosting unranked Maine on Nov. 4. The Black Bears are coming off a 15-17 season. (The Blue Devils finished last season 27-9 and lost to NC State in the Elite Eight.)

Ace is rated as a three-star prospect in the 2025 class, according to ESPN and 247Sports. Unlike Ace, Cooper reclassified in the 2024 class to play for Duke this year.

When Cooper reclassified, leading him to the NBA a year earlier: Ace transferred from Montverde Academy (Florida) to Greensboro Day School (North Carolina), about an hour from Duke’s campus.

Last season in Montverde, while struggling for minutes on a roster that included four five-star prospects, Ace averaged 2.6 points and 1.3 rebounds per game. His best performance last season came in January, when he had 11 points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal against Imani Christian Academy.

Scouting report

Ace is not the same caliber of player as Cooper, partly due to Cooper’s natural gifts, but also because Ace started playing basketball at an older age, but he is still good enough to legitimately play at a DI school. In fact, if he wanted to, Ace probably could have ended up in a better middle school, or even possibly a higher high school.

But it’s hard to stop playing at home, especially considering that Ace and Cooper’s mother, Kelly, was a star in Maine in the late 1990s. She even captained the Maine women’s team that won the only game of the tournament. NCAA program, a surprise in the first round over stanford in 1999. Ace now continues the family legacy there, while providing Maine men’s coach Chris Markwood with an impactful local talent.

As for what kind of impact Ace can have in college, at 6-foot-7 and 180 pounds, he has the build to play any forward position at the next level. But because he grew up playing with Cooper, whose versatility is one of his calling cards, Ace was often relegated to the slot, meaning he is comfortable rebounding inside and finishing. However, he has the makings of being a very important forward in Eastern America, considering his two seasons at the prestigious Montverde Academy. — Brendan Marks, college basketball writer

Why returning home makes sense

From a personal point of view, more than the fact that Kelly went to Maine, Ace staying home makes a lot of sense. The family moved from Newport, where generations of Flaggs are from, to Florida after the twins’ first season, and formally sold their home there last fall. But with Cooper now at Duke, and in the NBA next year, Ace’s return home means the whole family will be able to do it. More than that, the entire Flagg clan will be able to watch Ace’s games and spend time with him in college (compared to having to regularly fly to Durham to see Cooper).

The familiarity factor also extends further. Orono, the town where the University of Maine is located, just outside Bangor, is where Ace and Cooper hosted a summer basketball camp. It is only a 40 minute drive from Newport. — brands

Required reading

(Cooper and Ace Flagg photo: Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)