Duke Basketball Recruit Already Standing Out at FIBA World Cup

Soccer isn't the only sport hosting a World Cup this Summer. The FIBA U-17 World Cup is underway as countries hit the basketball court looking to capture the title.

For the United States, they held camp for the team to send to the FIBA World Cup and on it is Duke basketball recruit Joaquim Boumtje-Boumtje. He is one of the recruits in Jon Scheyer's 2026 class which is ranked No. 1 overall for this cycle.

The Blue Devils are reloading even after losing some top talent and with this class, the hope is that Scheyer can get over the hump this season. 

For Boumtje-Boumtje, he's already making a good first impression. 

In a win over France, he scored 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. He also grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists in 21 minutes played in the game. 

In a 128-66 win over Japan in the second game, Boumtje-Boumtje set a new record for Team USA.  The center finished the game with seven blocks, setting the new single-game blocks record for USA. The effort also was also tied for the third-most blocks in a game by any player at the FIBA U17 World Cup. 

Boumtje-Boumtje added 16 points in the win. 

The Florida native chose to play for USA despite playing the last two seasons in Barcelona. He has opted to go the college route rather than wait and try to enter the NBA Draft in a few years.

Instead, he will head to Duke to play under Scheyer for at least two seasons. As one of the top international prospects, Boumtje-Boumtje could get even better and develop into one of the top players in all of college basketball.

More importantly, he will give Duke another big man for the roster to go along with a player like Patrick Ngongba who returned for his third season. 

This performance by Boumtje-Boumtje is certainly great news for the Blue Devils this Summer, and should have fans excited for what the future could bring in Durham in terms of the international prospect. 

USA will be back on the court this Thursday where Boumtje-Boumtje looks to have another big game.