Back-To-Back Years Of Rare Greatness For Duke Fans

Don’t get used to it. Or, to put it in more positive terms, enjoy it while you can.

The statistical dimensions of what Cameron Boozer has achieved so far this season are seldom matched, certainly not on any squad with a variety of talented players. Even if it did happen with a Duke squad that produced five NBA players last season too.

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The fact that a player leads his squad in scoring, rebounding, and assists is rare. These last two seasons are the only occasions that the same Blue Devil led the team in all three of those statistical categories. Go back to the 1969 season, when assists were officially reported, and no other Blue Devil besides the most recent pair led in scoring, rebounds, and assists.

And, oh, by the way, Cameron Boozer also leads Duke in steals, as did last year’s pacesetter.

That player, Cooper Flagg, the 2025 National Player Of The Year, is so adept at distributing the ball, and creating with it, his Dallas coach, Jason Kidd, a renowned ballhandler during his playing days, started the NBA season entrusting his ace rookie with initiating the Mavericks’ offense. This year Cameron Boozer is making a similar statistical splash, serving as a hub around which the Devils spin.

Of course other players may lead their squad in multiple statistical categories, most especially scoring and rebounding. Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud last year and UNC freshman Caleb Wilson so far this year have led their respective teams in those categories. But neither is notable for the blend of skill and court awareness to lead in assists as well, as does Cameron Boozer.

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The following chart illustrate another interesting twist: recent Duke scoring leaders have been exceptionally well-rounded players, particularly frontcourt stalwarts like Pablo Banchero, Wendell Carter Jr., and RJ Barrett.

Cameron Boozer’s quadruple leadership could change a bit as the season wears on, less because of what he doesn’t do than because of what his smaller twin brother, Cayden Boozer, and others have increasingly shown they can do.

(Science interlude: just to clarify how siblings so differing in height and build can be twins, there are two kinds of twins – identical and fraternal. In simplest terms, identical twins come from one egg splitting, while fraternal twins develop from two separate eggs fertilized simultaneously by two different sperm. The genetic profiles of the monozygotic twins are identical; the dizygotic pair are about a 50 percent genetic match. Both kinds of twins interact in the womb, studies show, which may be why such pairs appear to share unspoken understandings.)

Cayden Boozer has been coming on lately. He’s started all three of Duke’s ACC games, wins against Georgia Tech and Florida State in which he played more than half of each contest, and a less visible effort against Louisville. He stands second on the squad in assists with a ratio of 2.6 for each turnover.

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Cayden’s been the high man for assists at Army (8) and against Howard (6) and Lipscomb (4). The Boozers tied for the team assist lead against Western Carolina (5 each) and combined for 15 of Duke’s 23 assists (vs. 6 turnovers) at FSU. The pair had six of Duke’s 9 assists at Louisville (with 5 turnovers.)

Cayden does remain an uncertain 3-point shooter, but makes nearly three-quarters of his foul shots, a key strength if a playmaker is to remain on the floor at crunch time.

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