Ace Flagg has decided to bring his basketball talent back to Maine. The 6-foot-9 forward from Newport announced on his Instagram Tuesday night that he has verbally committed to attend the University of Maine and play for the Black Bears.
Flagg chose UMaine over several other scholarship offers with the list including West Virginia, George Washington University in Washington, D.C., Florida Gulf Coast, St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and the University of Richmond.
“The University of Maine is going to be the perfect fit for Ace,” said Matt MacKenzie, who has been Flagg’s sports performance coach since he was in sixth grade. “Coach (Chris) Markwood and his staff are going to be fantastic for Ace in his continued development as a player.
“They really care a lot about him and his family and they made it very clear that they plan to feature him as somebody who is going to be a focal point of their program for several years to come,” added MacKenzie, the owner of Eastern Maine Sports Academy and Results Basketball in Veazie.
Markwood can’t comment on Flagg’s verbal commitment under NCAA regulations. He can only comment when he signs his National Letter of Intent.
Flagg and his twin brother Cooper led Nokomis High School to the state Class A title their freshman season in 2022 before both transferred to Montverde Academy in Florida.
Ace Flagg then moved on to the Greensboro Day School in North Carolina for this season while Cooper will be starting for Duke University and is projected as the potential first overall pick in the NBA draft in 2025.
Duke will open its season on Monday when it hosts UMaine.
MacKenzie said UMaine was the only school where Ace took an official visit.
“He knew in his heart where he wanted to be,” said MacKenzie, who has also coached Flagg as an assistant with the Maine United AAU team.
“His decision was ultimately about the right fit and he felt he could come to Maine and make an impact right away. He feels a lot of love from his home state and he knows he has a really good circle of support in the area. His grandparents still live in the area and he has me right down the road,” MacKenzie said. “Coach Markwood is building a really good program, one that is going to be atop America East in the near future and Ace is really excited to be a part of it.
“He is hopeful he can be a part of helping build success to the Maine men’s basketball program and he wants to be a part of a team that can punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament someday,” added MacKenzie.
UMaine is a Division I program that has never earned an NCAA Tournament berth.
Early this summer, Flagg said he had been talking to the UMaine coaching staff a lot and that attending UMaine would be a “great option.”
Flagg’s mother, the former Kelly Bowman, was the tri-captain on the 1998-99 University of Maine women’s basketball team that was inducted into the UMaine Sports Hall of Fame.
It is the only UMaine team to win an NCAA Tournament game, 60-58, over Stanford University at a regional in Norfolk, Virginia.
Last season, Flagg appeared in 27 games for national champion Montverde and averaged 2.6 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.
MacKenzie said UMaine is getting a player who “puts his body on the line every single time he steps on the floor.
“He is a natural-born winner. He will do all the little things asked of him by the coaching staff: rebound, take charges, set good screens and be a great connector on the floor,” said MacKenzie. “His passing and ability to make all the players around him better are overlooked.
“He can be a facilitator, not just someone who can score inside. And you can certainly depend on him to be a very strong defensive anchor as well as one of the best post defenders in the country. He will also bring toughness to the defensive end as well,” MacKenzie added. “Offensively, he’s always one step ahead. He sees and reads the game incredibly well. He continues to be a student of the game and the match between Coach Markwood and Ace is just perfect.”
