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USA Today
17-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Cameron Boozer called Duke 'overlooked,' and I can't wait to hate again
I'm going to share something in confidence this morning and all I ask in return is for it not to be thrown in my face at a later date: I was kinda rooting for Duke last season. I know, I know. It pains me to admit as much as it pains you to read, but hear me out. I wasn't directly rooting for the Blue Devils. Growing up a Terps fan, I hated them as much as anyone. The problem is I just really enjoyed watching Cooper Flagg play basketball. So, while I didn't actually care about the result of their games, my hope of seeing a great Flagg performance was, by extension, me rooting for Duke. I feel gross even typing that. It brings me immeasurable shame, only eased by the suspicion that my split interests weren't unique last college basketball season. A lot of us hate Duke. A lot of us also enjoy great players -- and Flagg was able to have one of the greatest freshman seasons ever without being that traditional Duke brand of dislikable. Those two things were hard to reconcile. Luckily, today, I have good news for those of us who want to restore the feeling: the Boozer twins are here. Specifically, I'm talking about Cameron Boozer, the five-star kid of Carlos who was named the Gatorade National Athlete of the Year last night at the ESPYs. He wasn't given time for a speech, and judging by a recent interview he gave ESPN, that was probably for the best. Because diving into that story this morning, I couldn't believe what I was reading. Boozer actually let these words come out of his mouth about Duke: "I think we're very overlooked right now, but once the season starts, that'll change for sure. ... I think just playing together, playing hard, defending, competing, we're going to be in a spot to get [to the Final Four] just like they did last year." Excuse me, what?? Duke... overlooked!? Next thing you know he'll be telling me about the uphill battle he faced to become a top prospect as the son of a former NBA All-Star. I know a Cowboys-Lakers-Yankees fan when I hear one. ESPYS: 16 fabulous photos from the red carpet This is nonsense of course. Nobody is overlooking Duke. The Blue Devils just played in the national championship game and they have the third-best odds (+1300) at BetMGM to win next year's title. Though the team is moving forward without Flagg and its other freshman standouts lost to the draft, Duke once again brought in the top recruiting class, which is simply the new normal down there in Durham. That class includes two other five-star players, Boozer's four-star twin Cayden, and the crowned jewel himself, Cameron -- a projected top-three pick in Bryan Kalbrosky's early 2026 NBA mock draft. At this point, we just expect Duke to be good every year. If Flagg said something similar last summer, forgive me for missing it. I would have reacted the same way. But thank you, Cameron Boozer, for bringing me to my senses. Comments like that are an easy way to make sure I never get caught slipping again. 2026 NBA Mock Draft While Cameron Boozer is a top-three pick in BK's new mock, he isn't the projected No. 1 pick. That distinction belongs to AJ Dybantsa of BYU (still weird to think about), who Bryan has landing in Utah, because of course: "The Jazz have an obvious plan as they enter this phase of their rebuild process after losing key rotation players like John Collins, Collin Sexton, and Jordan Clarkson. They're trying to get a high draft pick, and the connections to AJ Dybantsa are obvious. The 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup MVP transferred to prep school in Utah before committing to BYU, where Jazz governor Ryan Smith and CEO Danny Ainge are both alumni and donors. Dybantsa would pair well on the wing with talented Utah rookie Ace Bailey." BK is the best draft prognosticator in the game, so definitely check out his early mock to familiarize yourself with some of the top names to be on the lookout for. The NFL has a 2nd-round pick crisis NFL training camps are due to begin soon, but 30 of the 32 players selected in the second round of April's draft have yet to ink contracts with their respective teams. As FTW's Christian D'Andrea wrote, the reason might have to do with the guaranteed deals of the two players who did sign: "The answer may lie in Schwesinger and Higgins' contracts. The two signed fully guaranteed deals -- the first time that's happened under the NFL's most recent collective bargaining agreement (CBA) signed in 2020. Higgins received four years and $11.7 million. Schwesinger got four years and $11.8 million. While there's no one official reason for this rash of holdouts, the most likely culprit is that teams don't want to dole out all those guarantees." Here's more of the context of that from Christian, including the names of all 30 players still holding out. Quick Hits: Mahomes on Flagg ... Klagan?? ... and more Thanks for reading. We'll be back next week with more. This was For The Win's daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg reveals surprising Celtics legend is most famous contact
Prior to his technical pro debut with the Dallas Mavericks, a Summer League clash in Las Vegas against Bronny James and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg made a surprising revelation. The Mavericks' social media team quizzed the 6-foot-9 former Duke superstar with as many hard-hitting questions as they could fit in 32 seconds of content. Advertisement One of the most fascinating questions was the name of the most famous person's number Flagg possessed in his phone. Flagg, a Maine native and lifelong Boston Celtics fan, declared that six-time All-Star Celtics power forward Jayson Tatum was his most famous contact. Tatum, 27, is one of the league's best players, but could sit out most or all of the next season while recuperating from a torn Achilles tendon. The 2024-25 Associated Press Rookie of the Year, a consensus All-American, had a dynamite one-and-done year for the Blue Devils. With Flagg leading the way, Duke posted a 35-4 record and made it all the way to the Final Four — although given the talent involved (three Duke players were selected in the top 10 of this year's draft), the fact that the Blue Devils didn't advance to the NCAA championship game may be a bit of a disappointment. Advertisement In 37 contests for Duke, Flagg averaged 19.2 points on .481/.385/.840 shooting splits, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals. He became the no-brainer top prospect in this summer's 2025 NBA draft pretty quickly, and now joins a mismatched Mavericks squad full of old, injury-prone future Hall of Famers in 33-year-old All-Star guard Kyrie Irving, 32-year-old All-Star power forward/center Anthony Davis, and 35-year-old former All-Star shooting guard Klay Thompson. Now, Flagg is gearing up to make his technical NBA debut at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The action tips off at 7 p.m. CT, and will be broadcast live on ESPN. MORE NEWS:Blockbuster trade proposal sees Anfernee Simons rerouted from Celtics
New York Times
09-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Duke basketball takeaways: With Cooper Flagg in NBA, Jon Scheyer talks what's next
DURHAM, N.C. — Not even 24 hours after the most devastating loss of his head coaching career, Jon Scheyer dove straight back into heartbreak. It would've been understandable not to. To take some time, after Duke's stunning 70-67 loss to Houston in the Final Four, to digest what had gone wrong and why. To process how not even Cooper Flagg — the near-consensus national player of the year, and the eventual No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft — could stave off one of the biggest NCAA Tournament collapses of all time. Advertisement Instead? On the Blue Devils' flight home from San Antonio, there Scheyer was: digesting the game tape, reliving the most painful defeat he's suffered in three seasons coaching his alma mater. 'It's natural to shy away from it, or to make an excuse, or rationalize — and for me, I only know one way, and that's to dive deeper into it,' Scheyer said Tuesday, in his first news conference since April. 'You don't get that moment back. But at the same time, what you draw from it and (how) you lean into it, it's the only way to go forward.' Scheyer added that he's rewatched the game — one Duke lost despite leading by 9 points with just over two minutes left — several more times. Not to twist the knife any deeper, but to hopefully avoid a similar fate in the future. Not that his mindset made the viewing experience any easier. 'I had to see it,' the 37-year-old said. 'There's lessons from that game that I'll share with our team at the right time, but for me, it took a couple months to really understand, process, feel it, live it — and feel the pain. Feel everything associated with it.' But Scheyer didn't just dwell on the past Tuesday. Here are four other takeaways on the state of the Blue Devils. All five of last season's starters are now in the NBA — fellow one-and-dones Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach joined Flagg as top-10 picks, while guards Sion James and Tyrese Proctor were second-rounders. So Duke's rotation will obviously look much different next season. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the frontcourt, where two returners — rising senior Maliq Brown and rising sophomore Patrick Ngongba — will compete to start at center. Of the two, Brown easily played a more significant role last season, averaging 15.8 minutes per game while emerging as the team's most versatile defender. But the 6-foot-9 big also struggled with various injuries, missing 13 total games and the bulk of several others. After separating his left shoulder in the ACC tournament, Brown played only 22 total minutes in the NCAA Tournament before having offseason shoulder surgery. Advertisement Ngongba, on the other hand, arrived at Duke last summer as a five-star recruit still reeling from foot injuries sustained his senior season of high school. The Virginia native missed parts of the preseason while he recovered and then didn't play in nine of Duke's first 15 games. But eventually — and in part due to Brown's injuries — he settled into a role as a backup center, displaying the post moves and rebounding prowess that made him a top-25 recruit. Ngongba played 10 combined minutes in the Elite Eight and Final Four, but in the 10 games before that, the 6-foot-11 big averaged 6.4 points and 3.2 rebounds in 13.6 minutes per game. With Maluach gone, those two will play the majority of Duke's center minutes. Scheyer said that Ngongba, who was seen in a boot earlier this offseason, is 'in perfect health' with no limitations. Brown, on the other hand, is 'weeks ahead of schedule' after his surgery, but is still limited to noncontact work like shooting and handling. 'He dislocated his shoulder twice, and you have to be really cautious with that,' Scheyer said. 'So he won't do contact still for another four to eight weeks, really, but he can do basically everything five-on-zero.' In a sign of the times, where the transfer portal waits for no one, Duke lost one of its assistant coaches before last season ended. After reports surfaced in February that Jai Lucas was Miami's top target for its head coaching vacancy, Lucas stayed on through the ACC tournament before departing for South Florida on Selection Sunday. But that was only the beginning of Duke's offseason staff churn. Scheyer backfilled Lucas' opening with former Utah Jazz assistant Evan Bradds in early May, before hiring former Howard assistant Tyler Thornton later that month to replace Will Avery. Recently, director of player development Justin Robinson also left to become a development coach with the Los Angeles Lakers. And don't forget that last summer, Scheyer lured Emanuel Dildy away from Oklahoma to replace Amile Jefferson, who left for a job with the Boston Celtics. Advertisement That leaves associate head coach Chris Carrawell and general manager Rachel Baker as two of the few full-time staffers to have been with Scheyer since his start in April 2022. 'It means you have good people. Otherwise, people wouldn't be calling and trying to hire them,' Scheyer joked. 'You have to start back at ground zero — which, to be honest with you, is something that's good for me anyway. Coming off of this season, there's a lot of new. So it gives you a chance to really analyze what's worked, (and) what do we need to do better? The responsibilities within a staff, to me, have changed in the last three years.' Which is why Scheyer leaned on two hires with whom he has direct ties. Thornton was a senior during Scheyer's first season back on staff in 2013-14, when he was a special assistant to Mike Krzyzewski. Bradds arrives on the recommendation of Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy, one of Scheyer's closest friends in basketball. And before his time in Salt Lake City, Bradds spent two seasons as a video coordinator with the Boston Celtics — who, not coincidentally, employ another of Scheyer's good buddies, Brad Stevens, as general manager. (Scheyer also spent time with former Celtics and current Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka in Team USA settings.) 'We pride ourselves on the player development here. We pride ourselves on the way that we play. It's modern as could be; it's similar to how guys would be taught as they go on to their next step,' Scheyer said. 'So what better than to get a guy who's lived it for the last seven years, being around guys like Brad Stevens, Ime Udoka and Will Hardy?' Of Duke's returners, Brown and Ngongba are pure frontcourt players, while Caleb Foster and Darren Harris will be key backcourt players. Only Isaiah Evans, the 6-foot-6 sharpshooter who withdrew from the NBA Draft in May, could reasonably be considered a wing. And considering Duke's three-man freshman class featured two more forwards and a point guard — Cam Boozer, Nik Khamenia and Cayden Boozer, respectively — Scheyer needed to add at least one more starting-caliber wing to feel solid about his lineup. He appeared to find him in late April, when former Washington State wing Cedric Coward committed to Duke over Alabama. Despite playing only six games for the Cougars last season, Coward's size, defense and 3-point prowess made him one of the most sought-after players in the transfer portal — and someone who, after a season at Duke, figured to emerge as a potential lottery pick for 2026. But in the days and weeks after Coward's commitment, buzz about the 6-foot-6 wing only continued to grow as he explored his professional options. By the time Coward dominated the combine in mid-May, it was apparent he'd never play in Durham. While Coward didn't officially announce his intention to stay in the draft — where he was selected 11th by the Portland Trail Blazers and traded to the Memphis Grizzlies — until May 24, Scheyer said Coward kept the program apprised of his thinking every step of the way. That allowed Duke to appropriately pivot and land Italian wing Dame Sarr (pronounced Dah-may) a day before Coward's announcement. Advertisement 'The program can't wait, you know? We have to make sure our program is in the best position, and obviously he wanted to get as much information as possible — so we basically agreed we were going to continue to move on and fill out our roster, and then we'd support him from afar.' Sarr, a potential lottery pick in 2026, projects as one of Duke's perimeter starters and key contributors. The 6-foot-7 Sarr spent last season with FC Barcelona in the ACB, Spain's top professional league, where Scheyer once played. Sarr averaged 5.4 points and shot 42.9 percent from 3 in 13.4 minutes per game last season. Over two decades after Carlos Boozer last suited up in a Duke jersey, his sons have finally made their way to their father's old campus. And while that may seem like it was destined, that wasn't the reality. Miami — where the twins grew up and where their mother lives — made a heavy push to keep them home, and was considered a front-runner at various points in their recruitment. But ultimately, Duke's legacy factor, history of development and available roles helped Scheyer close the deal. 'Obviously, they love their dad and want to honor Carlos, but the reality is, this had to be the best decision for them — or they shouldn't come here,' Scheyer said. Still, the juice should be worth the squeeze for Scheyer — especially with Cameron, the No. 3 player in the class, per the 247Sports Composite. As a 6-foot-9 stretch forward, the bigger Boozer immediately slots into the starting position vacated by Flagg. And while Cameron is a much different player from Flagg — he's sturdier, at around 235 pounds, with more refined post moves but less ballhandling ability — he figures to be similarly impactful as one of Duke's leading scorers and rebounders. Cayden, the No. 20 player in the class, should be one of Duke's top backcourt reserves, someone capable of spelling Foster and initiating offense. Cameron projects as a surefire one-and-done, and while Cayden may reach that level, it's more reasonable to expect he'll spend multiple seasons in college. Navigating their recruitments — some of which overlapped, but some of which did not — was another hurdle for Scheyer in getting the Boozers on campus. Advertisement 'I don't think anything about their recruitment was normal,' Scheyer said. 'You have two special talents and players — and they live in the same house. … We recruited them for a long time; I mean a long time. And that doesn't happen as much now.' Given what it took to land the Boozers, Scheyer needs the twins to deliver on the same level as past freshman stars who preceded them.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Cooper Flagg Gets Brutally Honest On 'Tough' Situation In Dallas
Cooper Flagg Gets Brutally Honest On 'Tough' Situation In Dallas originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Cooper Flagg hadn't set a foot to play for Duke, and he was already penciled in as the consensus first-overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Advertisement His lone season at Durham didn't disappoint, so the Dallas Mavericks didn't have much of a decision to make when they were on the clock. Now, the Maine native is getting ready to make his Summer League debut, and while he's been preparing for this moment his whole life, he knows it's not going to be easy. Dallas Mavericks first overall pick Cooper Flagg speaks to the media during a press conference.© Jerome Miron-Imagn Images When asked about that, Flagg talked about the difficult challenge ahead of him, although he likes the group that will join him on the court: 'It's tough," Flagg admitted. I think we've got a good group of guys that really just want to play the right way and showcase a good brand of basketball, so it should make it a little easier.' Advertisement Of course, things should be even easier once he takes the floor with his actual teammates, as most of the Mavs' players on the Summer League roster won't be there when it actually counts. Having him next to Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, D'Angelo Russell, P.J. Washington, and Dereck Lively II will be a mouth-watering idea for the Mavs and their fans. Flagg dominated in college, averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists to lead the Blue Devils to a 35-3 record and a trip to the Final Four. Even so, none of that will matter in the pros, and Tuesday night might mark the beginning of a new era of NBA basketball. Advertisement This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
ACC/SEC Challenge Matchups Announced
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MARCH 29: Caleb Foster #1 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first half in the East Regional Elite Eight round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Prudential Center on March 29, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. | Photo byThe matchups are set for this fall's ACC/SEC Challenge and Duke will open with Florida in Cameron. Something to remember: the Gators redshirted a 7-9 kid last year. He'll be available this year. In some other matchups, UNC plays at Kentucky, NC State is at Auburn, Clemson is at Alabama, Louisville visits Arkansas and Wake Forest hosts Oklahoma. Advertisement We'll have a closer look at all the matchups in a bit but the ACC should do better this year than last year. Not that that's saying a lot. Cameron Craziness: Florida basketball to play at Duke in 2025-26 SEC-ACC Challenge SU men's basketball to battle Vols in ACC/SEC Challenge for 2nd-straight year Duke to face defending national champions in ACC/SEC Challenge Report: Gators to Face Duke in 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge Report: Gators to play Duke in 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge Florida to face Duke in 2025-26 ACC/SEC Challenge Blue Healer Auctions | Drop us a line More from
