Jay Williams goes on hilarious rant following Duke’s loss to Kentucky

He’s big mad.

The Kentucky Wildcats pulled out a tight one on Tuesday night against the Duke Blue Devils — the latter being the overwhelming favorite to come away with the win, namely for one player; Cooper Flagg.

Flagg, the No. 1 player in the class of 2024, is seen as a generational prospect and the best one to come out of the high school since former Blue Devil, Zion Williamson.

Following Kentucky’s win Tuesday night, Jay Williams praised Mark Pope and Kentucky’s resiliency, starting with no one on the roster when Pope was hired in mid-April to now boasting maybe the best win in the country during the early part of the season.

However, on Thursday, Williams posted to X a very weird rant about how Cooper Flagg will be marketed all season long, a shot at some folks who may have been upset that the post-game crew at ESPN talked about Cooper Flagg immediately after Kentucky’s monstrous win.

“Dear #BBN, Here is the reality about your win versus Duke & Cooper Flagg,” posted Williams. “PS. You won’t like it. Let me put you on to something. Whether you like it or not, networks are going to sell Cooper Flagg. He’s going to be the first pick in the (NBA) draft. You’re going to talk about whether he won the game or he lost the game, regardless of the outcome. You’re going to market him for a product that needs to attach themselves to something that is marketable, and that can cut through. Cooper Flagg can cut through. So, I get it. You’re not going to like it. That’s what the media does. There should be more kudos and props to Mark Pope and to Kentucky. That ain’t the reality of the world we live in, y’all.”

“I hope you guys appreciate that after the win you guys had against my Duke team last night…on SportsCenter live on ESPN right after the game, even though there’s a massive damn picture of Cooper Flagg behind me, I decided to give credit to the team that actually won the game. I decided to give props to Mark Pope and his squad for a team that had nobody on their roster – bringing in transfers, fifth-year guys, and gave them kudos for how they executed down the stretch because they deserved it.

“It’s called marketing. It’s called selling. So, regardless of whether you like it or not, Big Blue Nation? Media networks are going to sell Cooper Flagg. Get ready, regardless of whether you won the game or not. They’re still going to sell Cooper Flagg because he’s selling the sport.”

This honestly felt like a post that came up out of nowhere, only heightened by the fact the Williams’ Blue Devils lost to the fresh face in Lexington in Pope’s first big game.