Top Prospect Cameron Boozer Shared What Excites Him Most About Playing at Duke

The Cameron Crazies get to root for Cameron Boozer next year.

Cameron Boozer was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year / Image courtesy of Gatorade

No school has produced more top picks in the NBA draft than Duke. The Blue Devils have six No. 1 picks, most recently with Cooper Flagg last month and Paolo Banchero in 2022. No other program has more than three (Kentucky).

Duke has long served as a greenhouse for highly-touted prospects year after year. That remains the case next season with an incoming class highlighted by Cameron Boozer, son of two-time NBA All-Star and Duke alum Carlos Boozer. Speaking with Sports Illustrated on behalf of Gatorade as he celebrated being named Gatorade National Player of the Year, Cameron discussed his upcoming campaign at Duke. And in case anyone was wondering, his favorite Gatorade flavor is lemon lime.

"The big-time matchups and the atmosphere, you know, the Cameron Crazies," he told SI when asked about what he's looking forward to the most ahead of his upcoming season at Duke. "Going to road games and fans heckling you and stuff, I think that's going to be super exciting."

It's only right he gets to play in front of the Cameron Crazies. You can already see new student-section T-shirts with his face on them in the works.

Of course, Duke's battles with archnemesis North Carolina is college basketball's signature rivalry. When asked if there were any specific games or venues he was looking to play in, Boozer immediately pointed to the Duke-UNC rivalry and the wild atmosphere that follows.

The Blue Devils have an early-season game against Kansas at Madison Square Garden as part of the Champions Classic which he also said he's looking forward to. A hooper's dream.

Last season, Duke's year ended in the Final Four following a crushing loss to Houston. Now, the Blue Devils reload with their top-ranked class which has Boozer at the top. The 2025 McDonald's All-American Game co-MVP and Gatorade National Player of the Year will have plenty of opportunities to play in the big-time matchups he craves as he projects to make a huge impact on Duke's new-look roster.

He spent the week in California with Gatorade, which concluded with winning the Gatorade Best Male Player of the Year on stage at the ESPYs which recognizes him for his excellence on and off the basketball court. He maintained a weighted 4.82 GPA in the classroom and donated his time as a peer tutor in math.

"It's surreal for sure," he said to SI on winning the award. "Because it's not only just an athletic award, but it's academic and it's about your character as well, which says a lot about what people think about you which I feel like is a huge thing."

The Gatorade Athlete of the Year is Cameron Boozer and Jane Hedengren 🏆 pic.twitter.com/t54mw3MUd7

— SportsCenter NEXT (@SCNext) July 17, 2025

---

More College Basketball on Sports Illustrated

feed