The hype is real.
Duke's 2026-27 college basketball season is likely going to come down to most of the veterans that it was able to add throughout the offseason in the transfer portal. It's very impressive that Duke was able to do what it did, highlighted by John Blackwell, the star Wisconsin transfer.
As for other players who are going to make major impacts, a couple of freshmen need to be watched. That includes Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, who has spent the last couple of years overseas.
The young man, who is actually from America and spent time in Chicago, Florida, and Delaware, moved to Spain when he was just 14 years old. His father was the head of basketball operations for the Basketball Africa League.
Duke's freshman, who comes in at 7-foot-2, was on FC Barcelona B, one of the top teams overseas. As for how he's going to translate to college basketball in America, there are obviously always questions when that's the case.
However, all the early signs suggest that Boumtje Boumtje has an opportunity to be a very good player. The Athletic recently put together a list of the top college basketball newcomers from overseas and listed him as one of the top 10.
“Boumtje Boumtje is an American who spent much of his childhood in the United States, but he has been in Spain since he was 14. Boumtje Boumtje has developed in the FC Barcelona system, and so he is classified here as an international recruit. He arrives at Duke as a 17-year-old and isn’t eligible for the NBA Draft until 2028. He blew up this summer, winning MVP of the FIBA Under-17 World Cup and averaging 19.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.1 blocks and 1.7 steals…
“Duke has had the best player at his position in college basketball the last two years, with Cooper Flagg and Cameron Boozer, and expectations might be his biggest battle. Flagg- or Boozer-like production from a 17-year-old might not be realistic, but he will be one of the best talents at his position in the country,” CJ Moore wrote.
It'll be interesting to see the type of role that Boumtje Boumtje has. As Moore touched on here, it isn't fair to suggest that he's going to be anything like Cooper Flagg or Cameron Boozer, though there's no freshman in the country that should have those types of expectations.
I'm also very curious to see what Jon Scheyer is going to do with this freshman class. Duke has multiple freshmen who are going to come in and have an impact, but it's also not unfair to say that the veterans are going to be the guys who lead this team.
If that's really the case, I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the young guys not play as much as we all think.
