When Cameron Boozer arrived at Duke for the 2025-26 season, he had some big shoes to fill as the team’s star freshman following No. 1 NBA pick Cooper Flagg’s dominant season last year.
So far, he’s delivered impressive performances all season, helping the Blue Devils ascend to the No. 1 ranked team and the NCAA tournament favorite. Boozer seemingly is a top-three NBA draft pick lock, and potentially even the top overall pick. But, he’s got some competition with two other freshmen in college basketball this season—BYU’s AJ Dybantsa and Kansas’ Darryn Peterson.
There’s one basketball legend who believes Boozer stands out far above the rest, even if he may be a little bit biased: former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Coach K even went as far to admit he thinks Boozer could be the best Blue Devils freshman he’s ever seen. That’s quite a compliment from the coach who led Duke for 42 seasons and saw hundreds of freshmen play up close.
“He’s the best [freshman this year], I think,” Krzyzewski said on The Field of 68: After Dark podcast. “To me, it's not close. This kid is so dependable, so poised and puts up amazing numbers and accuracy in passing, in rebounding. He sets a physical tone for our team that another team has to match. ... He's had as good a year as any freshman that has ever played here [at Duke].”
Coach K on Cam Boozer:
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) March 2, 2026
"He's the best (freshman)... To me, it's not close. This kid is so dependable, so poised... He's had as good a year as any freshman that has ever played here at Duke"
🎥: https://t.co/F3NzoJ7ags pic.twitter.com/hy4HZmNRNQ
MORE: Ranking Best Duke, UNC One-and-Done Freshmen
Boozer’s numbers definitely help his case, as Krzyzewski noted. Through 29 games this season, he has averaged 22.5 points, 10 rebounds and four assists per contest—he leads the Blue Devils in all of those categories.
Winning the ACC tournament and then the NCAA tournament would help Boozer’s campaign of being the best Duke freshman in recent memory. There’s been three Duke freshmen in recent years to go No. 1 overall in the NBA draft—Flagg, Paolo Banchero and Zion Williamson—and none of those three players were able to win the NCAA tournament. That would be an achievement to make Boozer stand out amongst his former standout Duke freshmen, for sure.
We’ll see if Coach K backs up his statement next month when the college basketball season ends and he can fully reflect on Boozer’s freshman season as a whole.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Why Coach K Believes Cameron Boozer Could Be Duke’s Best Freshman Ever.
