LOUISVILLE, KY—The crowd of Duke players had slowly dissipated and the crowd had still yet to fill at Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center, but Cameron Boozer didn’t seem to notice. The Duke star freshman stood there with a few Duke student managers taking a few final moments around the free throw line.
Once he had satisfied his routine, Boozer turned toward the opposing corner of the floor, jogged past his father–former NBA star Carlos Boozer, who stood out in a bulky white jacket that commemorated both of his twin sons–slapped the hands of a few kids that draped themselves over the tunnel railing and faded toward the locker room. At no point in Boozer’s routine did he appear rattled by the stage he took.
The look as he jogged through the tunnel was the same as the one Boozer had as Duke trailed by 12 at one point in Duke’s eventual 84-73 win over Louisville and the one that he had as he addressed a group of media members in that same tunnel after the game. On a night in which Duke needed to pop off the mat to fly home winners, it was the unrattleable freshman that it had to thank.
“He settled us, if he didn’t do that it could’ve gotten out of hand,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said postgame. “He just has a competitive spirit at every point. He's playing a lot of minutes and he's playing more minutes than there ever are in a high school game. Great players don't get tired. He's in there a lot and I thought he did a great job of playing through fatigue. He did a great job with the defense. Then the way controlled the boards, the way he makes others better with his passing. Just a very tough performance.”
The performance in which Boozer delivered in an NBA-sized arena—which he’ll have to get used to in less than a year if all goes to plan–indicated something similar. It wasn’t filled with rim-shaking finishes or off-the-bounce scoring highlights that will dominate SportsCenter in the morning, instead it was more about feel and Boozer’s rare natural scoring ability at his size. It was the type of outing that indicated to everyone that the spotlight was rightly placed on Boozer heading into the night.
It also indicated that Boozer has an opportunity to be the most decorated member of a historically-good college basketball freshman class when his only college season is all said and done.
“Cam is one of the best players in the country,” Duke guard Caleb Foster said. “The way he scores and affects the game and impacts winning is the best I’ve seen.”
Boozer’s final line included 27 points–which he gathered on 10-for-12 shooting-eight rebounds and four assists. What wasn’t entirely quantifiable was his defense–which Scheyer said was the best it’s been all season. It was a signature outing for the Duke star freshman--who is considered by many to be the Wooden Award favorite--even if he acted as if it was normal.
All eyes were on Boozer as he failed to blend in with the rest of his Duke teammates over the course of the night, yet he appeared to be above any pressure that came with his name overtaking the figurative top of Louisville’s scouting report and the full row of NBA scouts that were presumably in the building to watch him. That says something about Boozer’s potential longevity in this sport, but also says something about Duke’s.
“I’ve been in a lot of moments like this in high school,” Boozer said postgame. “I just try to stay poised. Honestly it was a rough first half, so I was just trying to stay poised and get going a little bit. Then the whole team started getting going a little after that.”
As Louisville stole the show early and rattled off seven makes in its first 10 shots from 3-point range, it appeared as if Boozer and Duke were just waiting in the wings for the ultimate demise of Pat Kelsey’s team. Louisville flashed to a higher point than Scheyer’s team did on Tuesday, but Duke was steady and level-headed the whole way like its star freshman was. The Blue Devils always loomed despite Louisville getting out ahead of it early.
By the end of the evening, a Louisville fan in the stands yelled “who wants to be point guard?” to his team as the game slipped out of their hands.
Plenty can be said about Duke through its first three ACC games–the first two of which it narrowly knocked off Georgia Tech and Florida State, which are expected to finish towards the bottom of the league–but a comment that indicates it’s not complete enough to become the ACC’s champion and a national title contender when this is all said and done appears to be naive. Say what you will about the consistency of Foster, sophomore wing Isaiah Evans and Duke's defense, that's all fair. What's unfair is an assertion that a gaping hole exists anywhere within this roster.
In the second-half of Tuesday night's game, Duke looked as complete as its star forward’s offensive game is.
In the same way that Boozer propels Duke with his consistency, mature back to the basket, face up and perimeter shotmaking ability, Duke makes him better with its point guard play, depth and complementary front-court pieces. Tuesday that manifested itself with a 20-point outing from Foster and a 23-point outing from Evans. The Blue Devils’ most significant non-Boozer takeaway on Tuesday still has plenty to do with him and gives it a national title ceiling if it continues.
Scheyer’s team held Louisville to just 26 second-half points, 32.3% shooting after the break and eight second-half turnovers on Tuesday. This group’s defense has been the missing link as it’s started ACC play and is the thing holding it back from being considered in the same tier as Michigan, Arizona and Iowa State as foolproof title contenders.
“The second half, that was Duke defense,” Scheyer said, “And so, how can we build from that? And be true to who we are, and what's made us really good so far?”
Boozer appears to believe that the answer to Scheyer’s questions relates to toughness–which he says Tuesday’s comeback was a matter of–while Foster adds that this had plenty to do with his group “bringing the fight.”
“The fight" and a veteran performance from Foster–who it's been hoping for consistency from--paired with a signature Boozer outing indicates that although Duke isn’t considered by most to have a stronger national title chance that some of the country’s other elite, it’s got as high of a ceiling as anyone if it can get it all together.
Who knows how this all ends, but what we do know is that Duke has one of college basketball’s biggest stars and that he gives it a chance to go anywhere it wants to. He showed everyone that he is as advertised on Tuesday night.
“I’ve been fortunate to see a lot of special players here,” Scheyer said, “The special guys, they live it. He lives it.”
