Ticket Exclusive: Ace Flagg on coming home & committing to UMaine

It's a homecoming for Ace Flagg, the Maine-native and twin brother of Duke All-American Cooper Flagg, with Ace committing to play his college ball for the University of Maine Black Bears.

Ace isn't the first Black Bear in the family, as Ace and Cooper's mom, Kelly, was a captain on the 1999 University of Maine women's basketball team that captured the school's only NCAA Tournament win, a first round upset of Stanford.

The brothers first rose to local prominence when they guided the Nokomis Warriors to a 21-1 record and a state championship as high school freshman three years ago.

Ace played the last two seasons at Montverde Academy in Florida alongside Cooper, and last season averaged 2.6ppg/1.3rpg on a squad that included four 5-star recruits. He's currently getting set to play his senior year of high school at Charlotte Day School in North Carolina, one hour from Duke's campus in Durham.

"The state of Maine itself, it's such a special place. You don't really find a place like that anywhere else. Especially since I moved away from Maine, it makes you appreciate it so much more. Just the community, everyone there, the culture there, I mean it's just amazing and it means so much to me," Flagg said of his decision to return to the Pine Tree State.

Of course, the Flaggs have kept close ties to the state since leaving for prep school following their freshman year at Nokomis. The brothers returned to Portland last winter for "The Maine Event" which featured sold out crowds on back-to-back nights at the Cross Insurance Arena as well as The Expo, and they hosted a basketball camp on the UMaine campus in Orono over the summer.

Ace will be in the building on Monday night when Cooper and the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils open the 2024-25 season vs. the Black Bears at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Though, he admitted after this week's decision, he might be wearing a different shade of blue than the rest of the Cameron Crazies in attendance.

"I'll definitely be there and I'm gonna support Cooper in everything he does. But, we'll see when it gets closer to gametime. I haven't really decided who...but I might be wearing a Maine shirt."

Listen to the full conversation between Ace and I, right here -