Many kids playing sports dream to represent the United States of American in an international tournament. St. Cloud’s Noah Flagg will live that dream as he was selected by PHD Hoops USA to play for Team USA on the Paris World Tour, an international showcase taking place in Paris, France, at the end of June.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound shooting guard/forward combo led North Kissimmee Christian School to the Florida Chrisitan Conference State Championship and was the top scorer in the league at 18 points per game, along with 10 rebounds per contest.
“Noah is a high IQ player and someone that is dedicated to his craft, North Kissimmee Christian School Coach Adam Nicholson said. “He can score at any spot on the court. His future is bright and I’m glad I got to be a part of his journey.”
The 17-year-old rising senior home schooler is excited about the chance to represent the USA.
“I mean, it’s like a dream come true, growing up watching basketball, Flagg said. “I always saw the Olympic teams and I’m thought that would be a crazy thing to do.
“You’re representing an entire country just by wearing a jersey with your name on the back and the USA on the front. And so now getting to do something, obviously not as huge and crazy like that, but something very similar, is a dream come true.”
Flagg will be playing for Sandhills Community College’s Mike Apple in Paris, who has won two Division III Junior College national Championships.
“We’re always searching for young men who are good players with high character,” said Richie Schueler, President/ Founder of PhD Hoops USA. “In selecting him, I thought he could fill a role with his shooting and rebounding ability. I also thought his strength could be a factor at the Paris World Games.”
Speaking of character, Flagg notes his most important role on the team isn’t scoring and rebounding but leading.
“I like to think of myself keeping the peace within my team and trying to be the anchor,” Flagg said.
Flagg is hoping to play college basketball somewhere after graduation following in the footsteps of one of his favorite players with the same last name in Cooper Flagg, who played down the road at Monteverde and later for Duke University. He was the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft of the Dallas Mavericks and was named the league’s Rookie of the Year this past season.
“I’ve never even met somebody with the same last name as me,” Flagg said. “It was definitely crazy, and I instantly started watching him and started looking up to him a lot. I love watching his game.”
He plans to see the Eiffel Tower while in Paris. But he knows he must prepare to do well in Paris.
“I need to keep myself in in check and just make sure that I’m the absolute 110% best player that I can be going into that,” Flagg said. “This is one of the most important things in my life. Now I just got to prepare mentally. Physically, obviously, I got to get better every day, but now the big work is mentally to calm the nerves down. Calm everything down.”
It must be hard to calm down when you reach your dreams.
