Cameron Boozer’s freshman season at Duke has quickly moved from impressive to one of the best we’ve seen in Blue Devil history, and the accolades will only continue to come in.
The Athletic named Boozer a Midseason All-American by unanimous selection, cementing what we all know not only about him as a player, but also about Duke as a team.
“A year after Cooper Flagg led Duke in every major statistical category en route to the Final Four, the Blue Devils once again have the most productive freshman (and player) in college hoops,” The Athletic’s Brendan Marks wrote.
“Boozer leads Jon Scheyer’s team in points, rebounds, assists and steals. Even more impressively, he leads the nation in win shares, player efficiency rating and points produced per game. Even knowing Duke’s illustrious recent history with star freshmen — Flagg, Paolo Banchero, Zion Williamson, etc. — the 6-foot-9 Boozer is the only one in program history with multiple 35-point games, a feat he accomplished by Thanksgiving. He’s the clear Wooden Award front-runner, and the reason why No. 5 Duke is on the short list of national title contenders.”
Duke isn’t just good because it has a lot of talent, or better yet, a chance to win a championship because of talent. Duke is good because Boozer has been the best player in college basketball and it’s crazy to say nowadays that a freshman is doing that.
What separates Boozer isn’t simply volume scoring, but more so the consistency that we’ve seen. He dictates pace and doing so at such a young age in this era of college basketball is truly special.
When Duke needs stability, Boozer provides it. When Duke needs a takeover moment, he delivers that, too. With all of the stars we’ve seen at Duke, it’s unfair to say he’s close to the best, but the kid is doing things we haven’t seen a freshman do, and there’s something to be said about that.
With a tough stretch coming up and things only getting harder as we eventually head into March, I don’t think we’ll see Boozer slow down anytime in the near future. He’s really been that good.