Duke Continues Recruiting Success With Boozer Twins’ Commitment

During his 42 years as Duke’s head coach, Mike Krzyzewski established the Blue Devils as arguably the nation’s best men’s basketball program. Krzyzewski won more than 78% of his games and five national titles. He routinely signed top recruiting classes and sent players to the NBA.

When Krzyzewski retired in 2022, the Blue Devils hired Jon Scheyer, a former Duke player and assistant. Scheyer in his two seasons at the helm has yet to lead Duke to a Final Four, but he has continued the program’s success when it comes to attracting talent.

On Friday, the Blue Devils received commitments from high school seniors and twins Cameron and Cayden Boozer, whose father, Carlos, is an ex-Duke All-American and 13-year NBA veteran. Cameron Boozer is the No. 2 recruit in the high school Class of 2025, according to the 247Sports Composite, while Cayden is ranked 21st.

Cameron, a 6-foot-9 power forward, and Cayden, a 6-foot-4 point guard, have dominated at the high school level. They have won three consecutive Nike EYBL Peach Jam titles and three state titles at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami. They also won gold medals at the FIBA U17 World Cup in July, where Cameron was the Most Valuable Player and Cayden led the team in assists.

At Duke, they will join a program that is accustomed to winning, as well, although the Blue Devils have made only one Final Four (2022) since winning its last national title in 2015.

Still, Duke has remained a destination for top recruits. This year, the Blue Devils have the best incoming freshmen class in the nation, according to the 247Sports Composite, featuring No. 1 Cooper Flagg, No. 4 Khaman Maluach, No. 13 Isaiah Evans, No. 18 Kon Knueppel and No. 21 Patrick Ngongba II.

Flagg, a 6-foot-8 forward who impressed in practices against the U.S. Olympic team this summer, is projected as the No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA draft, according to The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie, who released his mock draft on Thursday. Vecenie also projects Knueppel (No. 9) and Maluach (No. 20) as first round picks. And he has two more Duke players as second round selections: junior guard Tyrese Proctor (No. 41) and guard Sion James (No. 52), a graduate transfer from Tulane.

Since 2011, Duke has had 20 players who were first round NBA draft picks after their freshman seasons, including No. 1 overall selections Kyrie Irving (2011), Zion Williamson (2019) and Paolo Banchero (2022). Cameron and Cayden Boozer could join that list, although they will be first focused on winning another high school state championship and then an NCAA title at Duke.

Besides the Boozers, 247Sports analyst Travis Branham reported on Friday that Duke is also in the mix for two other top Class of 2025 recruits: No. 4-ranked Nate Ament, a 6-foot-9 power forward from Virginia, and No. 27-ranked Nikolas Khamenia, a 6-foot-8 forward from California.

Next spring, the Blue Devils will likely be looking at the transfer portal, as well, just like every other college program these days. Duke for the most part has shunned adding transfers, preferring to target the elite high school recruits, but the Blue Devils changed course a bit last offseason. This year’s team has five transfers in James, forward Maliq Brown (Syracuse), wing Cameron Sheffield (Rice), forward Mason Gillis (Purdue) and forward Neal Begovich (Stanford).

The Blue Devils should be the favorites to win the Atlantic Coast Conference title and could contend for the NCAA title. They are eighth in ESPN’s preseason rankings, while Flagg in particular could make an immediate impact. In fact, 36% of more than 100 Division 1 coaches surveyed by CBS Sports this summer listed Flagg as college basketball’s best player, a higher percentage than any other player in the country.