There is no denying that Cameron Boozer has been an absolute stud for the Duke men's basketball team through the first half of his freshman season. There was also no denying that Cooper Flagg was the same kind of star for the Blue Devils last year.
Over Duke's first 18 games of the season, Boozer has been compared to his fellow freshmen, like Kansas's Darryn Peterson, North Carolina's Caleb Wilson, and BYU's AJ Dybantsa.
However, comparing Boozer to Flagg might be the true litmus test of just how talented the Blue Devils' freshman star has looked so far.
Cameron Boozer has outplayed Cooper Flagg's season at Duke
To put it lightly, Boozer is outpacing Flagg. Through the first 18 games of the season, Boozer has one-upped Flagg in almost every stat column on the sheet.
This is by no means to say that Flagg had a bad year with Duke last season; he was the National College Basketball Player of the Year after all. However, if you look at the numbers-to-numbers comparison, Boozer is simply playing just that much better.
Stat | Cooper Flagg | Cameron Boozer |
|---|---|---|
Points per game | 19.2 | 23.2 |
Assists per game | 4.1 | 4.1 |
Rebounds per game | 8.1 | 9.9 |
3 point percentage | 34.8 | 37.7 |
Field goal percentage | 48.8 | 58.6 |
Other than assists per game, where Flagg and Boozer shockingly produced the exact same numbers, the current Duke star has outperformed last year's star.
Now, there are still 13 regular-season games remaining, as well as the ACC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. So, we could see a drop in Boozer's numbers that we didn't see in Flagg's stats last year.
However, as of now, Boozer is playing like that guy, which is a great sign for the future of the team this season, especially as Jon Scheyer tries to take his team back to the National Championship and hopefully secure his first title as Duke's head coach.