Postseason Basketball 2026

Cameron Boozer tops statistical leaderboards.

Just how good is Duke’s

star freshman?

By Dom Fenoglio Senior Editor

Named after the Blue Devils’ home court by a father who won a national championship with Duke, Cameron Boozer might as well have been preordained for greatness in Durham. His five-star rating and unparalleled high-school success generated even more hype around the 6-foot-9 big man. Yet, Boozer has surpassed even the highest expectations set for him, putting together one of the greatest individual college basketball seasons of all time while leading the Blue Devils to a 32-2 record ahead of March Madness.

While he does not boast his merits — Boozer appeared surprised when he was named the ACC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player Saturday night — the 18-year-old plays with a confidence and maturity beyond his years. Those traits serve as the backbone for his consistent statistical output that makes scheming against him near impossible.

On their face, Boozer’s metrics are gaudy: 22.5 points and 10.2 rebounds come along with a team-leading 4.2 assists per game, all at a 56.5% fieldgoal rate and a 40.9% clip from 3-point range. Diving deeper into the advanced analytics elevates No. 12 even further. Let’s take a look at what makes him the best player in the nation.

How much better is Duke with Cameron Boozer on the court?

In recent years, statisticians have developed various methods to measure the individual impact of a player in an effort to objectively and systematically compare players across the numerous leagues in college basketball. At a basic level, these metrics aim to capture how much better a player makes his team while adjusting for variables like usage rate (how often that player gets the ball), opponent strength and pace of play. Unsurprisingly, Boozer clears his peers across all iterations of this idea.

For example, CBBAnalytics calculates RAPM (Regularized Adjusted Plus/ Minus) which focuses on play-by-play data to estimate the difference a player has on

the score of a game over 100 possessions. Boozer’s RAPM of 10.3 — the sum of his +5.9 value on offense and +4.4 value on defense — ranks in the 100th percentile nationally. In other words, Duke is expected to outscore opponents by 10.3 more points per 100 possessions with its star freshman on the court compared to when he is on the bench.

Of course, the Blue Devils have compiled a strong enough resume to garner a positive predicted margin with or without Boozer, so metrics that capture his value outside of Duke’s inherent strength provide even more context. Evan Miyakawa does this with BPR (Bayesian Performance Rating) on Evanmiya.com; Boozer’s score of 14.81 can be explained as his impact per 100 possessions with nine other “league average” players on the court.

Taking these two metrics together, the Blue Devils’ roster strength does not oversell Boozer’s impact — it may actually cause his dominance to be underrated. If the ‘Diaper Dandy’ played for a team where he needed to shoulder an even greater load, the numbers suggest his production would increase.

Other top-end players also provide significant impact to their teams — for example, Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg has a higher BPR rating than Duke’s Cooper Flagg did last season — but there is no other hooper who can claim as great an impact as Boozer.

What makes Cameron Boozer unique?

Returning to the idea of usage rate, Boozer’s involvement in head coach Jon Scheyer’s system allows the Blue Devils to create an advantage at a ridiculous clip. According to CBBAnalytics, the big man involves himself in 29.5% of Duke’s plays, ranking in the 98th percentile among forwards. Typically, as a player’s usage increases, his efficiency decreases and his turnover rate increases. The life of a primary option consists of double teams and aggressive coverage, and more time with the ball creates more chances for a mistake.

Boozer bucks that trend completely. His 66.9% true shooting percentage (a metric similar to field-goal percentage

that accounts for free throws and weighs 3-point shots more heavily) ranks in the 94th percentile, and he only turns the ball over 12.1% of the time.

Considering that Scheyer often puts the 6-foot-9 bruiser as the ball handler in screening actions, Boozer’s composure and execution with the ball in his hands is out-of-this-world good.

The Columbus High School product also serves as a top-notch facilitator, assisting for 26.4% of his teammates’ field goals while on the court — yet again ranking in the 99th percentile. He has 1.8 times as many assists as turnovers, and often uses his playmaking to relieve pressure when his shot doesn’t fall. In his lowest scoring game of the season against Virginia in the ACC Championship (where he still scored 13 points), Boozer tallied eight dishes.

The final piece of the puzzle for the soon-to-be-named National Player of the Year is defense; while Boozer cannot claim to be Duke’s best defender (Maliq Brown and Dame Sarr live in the nightmares of opposing coaches), he serves as the linchpin for the Blue Devils’ coverage scheme. Duke’s nationally elite defense cannot work without Boozer effectively switching onto smaller, faster guards and — most importantly — rebounding misses.

Of all shots missed by the Blue Devils’ opponents this season, Boozer has accounted for 22.4% of the rebounds (good for the 92nd percentile in the nation).

The rookie has a knack for predicting the angle of a shot before it hits the rim, and his 250-pound frame allows him to muscle his way through the trees for physical boards. Boozer has also mastered the art of moving between guards on the perimeter and forwards in the paint without fouling, as his 2.0 fouls per 40 minutes ranks in the 98th percentile. This allows Scheyer to rely on his star without needing to worry about foul trouble, creating yet another headache for opponents.

Boozer’s combination of usage, efficiency and versatility creates a player profile that translates to production at every level. He has been clutch down the stretch in all of Duke’s close wins and constantly leads discussions during

timeouts at just 18 years old. Every additional statistic revealed about Boozer adds to the grandeur of his excellence, but as the Blue Devils come down the stretch in March Madness, only one will matter: winning.

Historic season by the numbers points per game (leads the ACC)

10.2

22.5 rebounds per game (leads the ACC)

3.082 double-doubles (leads the ACC)

KenPom Player of the Year rating (highest all-time)

19

National Player of the Year (Sporting News)

ACC Player of the Year ACC Rookie of the Year ACC Tournament MVP

‘I got my swagger back’: Duke’s young point guard shines in ACC Tournament run

By Caleb Dudley Sports Multimedia Editor

Duke has its March point guard.

The Blue Devils’ run to the ACC title this week in Charlotte was extremely impressive. Down two starters in Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba II, the Blue Devils pushed a seven-man rotation to the limit as they won three games in as many days. While several doubts about depth and late-game problem-solving were answered, Cayden Boozer might have been the best discovery of the weekend.

In a season largely dominated by narratives surrounding his twin brother, the floor general showed his scoring and playmaking chops throughout the weekend, earning All-Tournament Second-Team honors as Duke cut down the nets.

the only Blue Devil to play all 40 minutes in a game this season. Thirty-four games into the season, the guard still had more gas in the tank.

It wasn’t just a last sputter to the finish line. The lead guard masterfully ran the offense for the entire contest, only committing two turnovers. Those giveaways paled in comparison to what he provided on the offensive end.

“He’s just been really supportive. Since he’s been here, he’s been like a big brother to me. So we have those conversations all the time, and just having his belief is really special,” Boozer said about Foster.

It’s not just Foster. Everyone has belief in their new starting point guard.

“He showed that he’s good enough, and we never doubted him. He’s our PG1, and we have that trust in him. And today, he delivered. I’m so proud of him. He worked so hard, and he deserves it,” Dame Sarr said.

I thought Cayden just completely put us on his back in that first half.

“I thought Cayden just completely put us on his back in that first half. The job he did — just running the show, scoring, defending, really doing everything — and to play 40 minutes against Virginia, when they’re pressing you the whole game, it was an incredible performance,” head coach Jon Scheyer said after Saturday’s final.

While his brother won MVP honors for the tournament — more a commentary on the weekend as a whole than Saturday’s game singularly — Boozer proved why he was an integral part to the four Florida state championships with Columbus High School, three consecutive Nike EYBL titles and one title at Chipotle Nationals that so often get thrown around in the discourse of the ACC Player of the Year. No one was happier for him than the guy he’s played with since day one.

“I love the fact that he had a big-time weekend and stepped up big tonight. I think it’s going to give him a lot of confidence going forward,” Cameron Boozer said.

It was not all sunshine for the freshman at the Spectrum Center. Thursday’s contest saw Florida State gamble that Cayden Boozer couldn’t make enough shots from outside to adequately threaten the Seminole defense.

That strategy proved extremely effective. The Miami native finished with more fouls than points, spent 18 minutes on the bench and went 0-for-5 from beyond the arc. His ineffectiveness allowed the upstart No. 8-seed to push the champs to the brink, falling just short of a buzzer-beater victory.

Sixteen points tied a career-high, a mark that was set the night before against Clemson. Boozer got it done on all three levels as well. A 1-for-1 mark from three, 3-for-4 at the charity stripe and 5-for-11 overall proved that the Florida State scout from Thursday didn’t account for his full potential on that end. How’s that for rebuilding your confidence?

“I think I just got my swagger back,” Cayden Boozer said. “Obviously, having a moment like this in March, I think it’s really important for me.”

That overall percentage could have been even higher if it wasn’t for a legendary defensive performance from Virginia center Ugonna Onyenso. The big man had a tournament-record nine blocks, and both Boozers came up on the receiving end of several of those rejections. Regardless, Cayden still utilized body control — a trait that is an uncanny strength of his — to find crafty finishes at the basket.

Virginia was fully aware of Duke’s lack of depth. Taking advantage of the stark contrasts in reserve availability between the two squads, Cavalier head coach Ryan Odom consistently subbed in fresh legs and ramped up the intensity for the entire shot clock in an effort to wear down the already-hurting Blue Devils.

The result? Boozer had to fend off a swarming conglomeration of Cavalier perimeter defenders for 94 feet on every possession. It definitely wore on the youngster — he remarked after the game that the fatigue set in on his walk to the postgame press conference — but you couldn’t tell from the stands Saturday night.

Cayden has been Cayden this whole season. We knew he was capable of doing it.

As the game dragged along in a heavyweight bout, the guard had plenty of juice to go around. His conversion of a second-chance bucket off an Isaiah Evans missed three was the pinnacle of his extra effort in the second half.

“I feel like everybody keeps saying he stepped up, but I feel like Cayden has been Cayden the whole season. We knew he was capable of doing it, and we’re not surprised at all,” Maliq Brown said.

Cayden Boozer will have the reins to the offense for the foreseeable future. Duke will hope he can parlay his success at the ACC Tournament into a deep postseason run.

“From that first game, they didn’t really guard me, and I never wanted to have that feeling again,” Cayden Boozer said Saturday, reflecting on Thursday’s quarterfinal.

Duke couldn’t afford for its young point guard to have another tough offensive performance; it had even less wiggle room to remove him from the game. That meant 40 minutes of playing time in the title bout — the only such performance of the ACC Tournament for the Blue Devils. In fact, Boozer became

“I think just playing as hard as I can for those 40 minutes is really important for our team, and just doing anything I can to help us win,” Cayden Boozer said. “I’m just really proud of all of our guys because everyone had to play more minutes than we usually do.”

Of course, Duke would have to love this version of Boozer in addition to its veteran point guard in Foster. But as the junior rehabs for a potential return to the lineup, he’s transitioned to a full-time mentor for his freshman complement.

Scheyer, Boozer, Brown earn All-ACC awards for Duke men’s basketball

By Abby DiSalvo Sports Editor

After dominating conference play, the 2025-26 Blue Devils earned five of the ACC’s six annual accolades.

Freshman Cameron Boozer capped off a historic campaign with both Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year recognition. The 6-foot-9 forward, who led the Blue Devils with 22.7 points and 10.2 rebounds per game in the regular season, also earned a nod to the All-ACC First Team and AllACC Rookie team. Over the course of the 2025-26 campaign, Boozer became just the second player in conference history to sweep the ACC Player and Rookie of the Week honors five times in a single season (the other was Cooper Flagg). He won the latter award 10 times in the 18-week regular season.

The young Blue Devil cemented his place in college basketball history books with monstrous performances throughout the year. Boozer tallied 16 double-doubles across the regular season and scored more than 20 points in 18 games. In Duke’s recent win over No. 17 North Carolina, his 26-point, 15-rebound double-double made him the only Division I player in the last 30 seasons to record 25+ points, 15+ rebounds and 5+ assists in a regulation win over an AP top-25 opponent. Boozer is also the only Division I player in the last 30 seasons to have 650+ points, 300+ rebounds, 100+ assists and a 50.0+ fieldgoal percentage in a single regular season.

“He’s been a complete stud for us from day one,” head coach Jon Scheyer

said March 5. “I think it just becomes so contagious when your best player is about winning … The energy, the focus, who he is as a teammate, his competitiveness, it’s the same way, and I think that sets a tone for everybody.”

Scheyer earned his own recognition as ACC Coach of the Year after leading the Blue Devils to a 29-2 regular-season record and 17-1 mark in the conference. Under his guidance, Duke went undefeated at home for the second season in a row and spent the final three weeks of the season as the top team in the nation. Scheyer is the first Duke winner of the award since Mike Krzyzewski in 2000.

The fourth-year coach was tasked with guiding the Blue Devils back to championship contention after exiting the 2025 NCAA Tournament in the Final Four and losing every 2024-25 starter to the NBA draft. He rebuilt Duke’s team with a mix of recruits and returning

bench players, tailoring development “blueprints” to each athlete. Isaiah Evans, Patrick Ngongba II and Dame Sarr saw significant growth over the course of the season, and the Blue Devils earned 12 ranked victories and 15 Quad 1 wins as nearly every rotational player experienced a breakout game.

“We’ve invested a lot, with us having such a young team, in the player development aspect,” Scheyer said before the start of the season. “We’ve studied best practices and the best ways we can get just to max out this time period with our guys for whatever time they’re here.”

Duke also earned a reputation for its stifling defense, thanks largely in part to senior Maliq Brown, who won ACC Defensive Player of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year honors. The 6-foot-9 “defensive menace” — as Scheyer has often described him — led the Blue Devils with 1.9 steals per game. He also tallied

over 30% of Duke’s deflections and capped the regular season with a 15-point, ninerebound, five-steal showing against the Tar Heels.

“Maliq is what college basketball should be about. He’s the ultimate team guy,” Scheyer said March 5. “You look at what he’s done statistically, for me, he’s no question the Sixth Man of the Year … his versatility, his passing, his numbers back it up.”

Duke had two other players land on All-ACC teams, as sophomore Isaiah Evans landed on the third team and center Ngongba garnered honorable mention recognition. After both playing in reserve roles last season, the pair both saw their scoring averages reach double digits in the 2025-26 campaign. Evans continued to embody his role as a microwave scorer, going for 14.5 points per game with a 36.7% 3-point percentage. Ngongba served as an elite rim protector for the nation’s best defense while also averaging 10.7 points and six rebounds per contest.

Sarr joined Brown on the All-Defense team after an excellent season defending the perimeter. The freshman, who received the second most votes for the Defensive Player of the Year award, averaged one steal per game for the Blue Devils and consistently guarded the opposition’s top scorer.

Thanks to the contributions of Scheyer, Boozer, Brown, Evans and Ngongba, the Blue Devils finished the regular season as ACC Champions and earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Column: Scheyer’s tough scheduling paid off for Duke men’s basketball

By Elle Chavis Sports Managing Editor

29-2, 17-1 in the ACC and another year undefeated at home.

“Honestly, I’ve the ultimate belief in this team. The schedule we’ve played for me this year has been the hardest schedule,” head coach Jon Scheyer said after Duke’s victory in the ACC Championship game. “When you combine the non-conference schedule, the improvement of the ACC, the different tests we’ve been in … let’s see how many tough situations we can put our guys in, and the way they stepped up and answered almost every test.”

Looking at Duke’s regular-season schedule back in October, hardly anyone could have predicted that the Blue Devils would be sitting with only two regular-season losses to their name, beating out last season’s already impressive 28-3 record.

“If you had told me that before the season, I would have told you that’s not going to happen,” Scheyer said after the team’s final regular-season game against North Carolina. “We didn’t make this schedule to go 29-2.”

Despite slotting in the AP Preseason Poll at No. 6, the Blue Devils certainly seemed to start the season with a chip on their shoulder. Questions abounded about whether this team could ever match the chemistry of the 202425 squad, how Patrick Ngongba II and Isaiah Evans would step up in their sophomore season, how Caleb Foster would bounce back from his hot-and-cold play last year and whether the top recruiting class in the country live up to all the hype and expectations

weighing down on it.

But that didn’t stop Duke. It rolled past then-No. 24 Kansas and then-No. 22 Arkansas in neutral site games, took down reigning national champion and then-No. 15 Florida at home and handily defeated then-No. 7 Michigan State in front of the Izzone, all in the first 10 games of the season. Though the team faltered against the Red Raiders for its first loss of the season, it still walked away from a nonconference schedule ranked eighth nationally with only one loss.

And the Blue Devils dusted off that one nonconference loss and turned their attention to conference play, where they defeated even their ranked conference foes like it was nothing. Of course, the first half of ACC play did come with one more loss to archrival North Carolina, but even that singular conference loss — still good enough to give the team the regular-season conference championship — far outperformed most expectations for the season.

“Do I want to go and win every game? Of course I do,” Scheyer said Sept. 24 at the team’s preseason media day. “That’s not the way we set our schedule up. We set our schedule up to be at our best at the end of the year and to learn as much as we can early in the season.”

As February closed out and all eyes turned to March, it became apparent that the Blue Devils were at their best to close out the season. Scheyer’s squad appeared to have slowly mastered the art of closing out tough games. They took down then-No. 1 Michigan to claim the AP Poll No. 1 ranking for themselves, dismantled a Clemson squad that has given them trouble of late, did the same to Virginia a

few weeks later, handed Notre Dame its largest loss at home in program history and marched into the Lenovo Center to beat N.C. State.

“I think we’ve really been tested in different ways,” Scheyer said. “We’ve won by bigger margins down the stretch here, but I think we’ve learned something each game.”

The questions that threatened to overshadow this team six months ago have all been answered. The Blue Devils have battled back and forth with older, more experienced teams, shaken off a last-second rivalry game loss to defeat their opponent the second time around and watched a teammate go down with an injury in the same game. Particularly in the latter half of the season, Duke has exhibited a fight that simply will not die, a resiliency that defies expectations and a confidence that has already carried it far.

“We’ve had some adversity thrown our way, and we just talked about weathering the storm,” Scheyer said. “You’re not going to go through March without having storms.”

Scheyer’s scheduling, though it may have seemed ambitious from the outside looking in, certainly seems to have worked. Playing the long game paid off. With an exemplary regular-season record, ending the campaign as the AP Poll No. 1 team, an outright ACC regular-

season title and a conference championship to show for it, the 2025-26 squad has cleared nearly every hurdle last year’s team left in its wake.

The past seems to have repeated itself to an uncanny degree, even including an injury that kept two key players out of the ACC Tournament. Perhaps then, with all the lessons learned this season, with all the battles the Blue Devils have won, and the few they have lost, just maybe this road will lead them to Indianapolis with their sights set on six.

QUARTERFINALS

TWICE AS NICE

Duke defeats Louisville 70-65 in OT for repeat ACC championship

60 46

Toby Fournier led Duke with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Clemson scored just five points in the second quarter.

Delaney Thomas added 14 points and six boards.

SEMIFINALS

65 63

Notre Dame won the third quarter 18-8 to keep the game close.

Neither team led by more than five points in the final period.

Toby Fournier’s last-second block sealed the game.

CHAMPIONSHIP

70 65

By Ella Bilu March 8, 2026 Staff Writer

DULUTH, Ga. — For every Duke response, Louisville had another answer. Until the end.

That’s at least how this battle felt as the No. 2-seed Cardinals sought to defeat the No. 1-seed Blue Devils after losing to Duke in the ACC Tournament last year and the regular season this year.

Whether it was a hot second-quarter start, an attempted comeback in the fourth, or the presence of senior point guard Taina Mair, the team from Kentucky knew what to do in its combat against Duke for the first 39 minutes of play. But as the Blue Devils tied the game in miraculous fashion to send the bout to overtime, they were the ones who emerged with the final answer, besting Louisville 70-65.

For the first time since 2010 and 2011, the Blue Devils captured back-to-back ACC tournament titles, overtaking a mighty Louisville in thrilling overtime fashion. Thomas and Mair excelled the whole game, bringing home 19 critical points apiece, as a Nelson game-ending 3-pointer and a collective team defense brought home the trophy in the game’s final minutes.

“That game had a lot of chapters. It was long, and it had its ups and downs, but we just stayed steady,” Lawson said, speaking alongside Mair and Nelson. “I’m so proud of so many different performances, none bigger than the two young ladies sitting up here.”

That game had a lot of chapters. It was long, and it had its ups and downs, but we just stayed steady.

Entering the fourth quarter behind by three, Duke had one task: to outplay its opponent by four points. A Riley Nelson layup and a Taina Mair 3-pointer off a Toby Fournier steal made that possible, but Louisville was not ready to hand over its lead just yet. By the time two minutes remained on the clock, the Blue Devils still found themselves behind by two. Cardinal free throws widened the gap.

Delaney Thomas rebounded a missed shot out of a timeout and launched her own, scoring two and earning a precious andone in the process. With Duke down by two, her shot circled out and around the rim to a waiting Fournier, who recovered the ball and sent it to Nelson, who cashed in on a game-changing three.

The match still was not over, though, after strong Louisville play on both ends set the Cardinals up again by two. After another timeout from head coach Kara Lawson, Duke once again came out ready, with Thomas grabbing her most important layup of the game. With 4.6 seconds to go, the two ACC teams were tied at 60 apiece.

Inbounding from Louisville’s offensive end, the Cardinals’ scramble for a shot was blocked by Mair, paralleling the gamesaving Fournier scene from Duke’s defeat of Notre Dame.

The Blue Devils and the Cardinals were headed to overtime in the championship game for the first time since 2009.

This time, it was Duke’s turn to start off hot, where two buckets from Thomas created a small but meaningful 65-63 lead. As the overtime clock ticked away, tensions began to rise on both sides, and Reyna Scott fouled Mair in the Blue Devils’ offensive zone. At the line, in veteran fashion, Mair crucially bagged both shots.

An Imari Berry layup pulled the game back to a two-point separation, but Duke had the ball with 40 seconds to go. Killing some time with an out-of-bounds play situated the Blue Devils perfectly: up 67-65 with 19 seconds on their shot clock and 24.6 seconds to play. This was their game to lose. Thanks to Mair’s time-killing dribbling abilities, a ready pass from Ashlon Jackson and a dagger of a Nelson 3-point bucket, the Blue Devils were up by five. And that’s all they needed to win.

Delaney Thomas tied the game at 60-60 with 4.6 seconds left in regulation.

Thomas and Taina Mair each scored 19 points in the championship game.

Mair took home the tournament MVP honors.

Duke’s elite defense, which carried it to the championship match and ranked second in the ACC for points allowed, could not get a handle on its opponents in the first quarter. After those same five minutes, the Blue Devils and Louisville had each given up four turnovers, a fault that defined the back-and-forth tone of this first period. The blue-and-white struggled to find its own, allowing the Cardinals to capitalize on highly efficient 9-for-15 shooting from the field.

With seconds to spare, though, a quick passoff from Fournier to the team’s senior leader Jackson rewarded the Blue Devils with a prized 3-pointer, pulling them to a 21-14 deficit and sparking much-needed connection.

The Louisville faithful dominated the crowd in numbers and noise throughout the opening period, but the Duke fans stepped up their support in the following quarter. Thomas, who bagged her first four points of the game via two successful layups to open the second, revived the blue-and-white spectators sitting behind Lawson’s bench. The next play, they chanted “defense” until Louisville ran out of time and launched a doomed shot.

“Delaney has this unique ability to meet your needs in big games. She is ready to meet whatever the team needs in that moment,” Lawson said.

Jackson, who recovered that ball, passed it off to Mair, who was ready on the left side of the arc to tie the game, 21 points apiece. The Cardinals’ head coach, Jeff Walz, was forced to call a timeout as a now-connected Blue Devil squad was at risk of taking the lead.

Duke continued the second less dominant than it started, but trailing by just two in a 32-30 first-half outcome was nothing short of a great turnaround from a slow game start. The third quarter sent the Blue Devils right back to square one. Three treys and a single layup rallied Louisville back ahead, 43-36. Meanwhile, the only place the reigning champions could reliably score was the free-throw line. Duke shot a devastating 16.7% from the field after six minutes of the third, digging itself into a deeper hole with every missed shot.

But, almost as if the Blue Devils were told, they started to embody what a No. 1-seeded team looked like. Their last half of the third was a needed response, pulling them within a possession of the Cardinals and prompting fans back on their feet. Heading into the only 10 minutes that mattered, Louisville led 49-46.

“All these guys are winners,” Lawson said. “That’s the most valuable trait in a player is that they’re a winner.”

TRIPLE CROWN

Duke escapes Virginia 74-70 to defend ACC Tournament title

By Abby DiSalvo March 14, 2025 Sports Editor

CHARLOTTE— Duke has its triple crown.

The Blue Devils took down No. 2-seed Virginia 74-70 in the Spectrum Center to secure a repeat ACC Championship title. The gritty, down-to-the-wire win marked head coach Jon Scheyer’s third tournament victory in four seasons and the first time an ACC school has won the men’s basketball, women’s basketball and football championships in a single year.

But the title game was always bound to be a horse race.

As the last seven minutes ticked away, neither Duke nor Virginia could establish a firm foothold. Cameron Boozer’s andone layup and second-chance free throws gave the Blue Devils a 63-60 lead, while Malik Thomas knotted the score for the Cavaliers with his own three-point play.

The game of shootout basketball showed no further signs of resolution as the teams headed into a Duke timeout. Even when Isaiah Evans swished a much-needed triple out of the huddle, Thomas backed down Darren Harris in the post to keep it within one point. Virginia’s Thijs De Ridder tied the game with a 1-of-2 free throw trip just under the three-minute mark.

Then Cayden Boozer tipped in an off-target Evans triple, and the Blue Devils forced a shot clock violation on the other end. “Let’s go, Duke” chants — which had been sparse throughout the night — began to overpower the cheers of the Virginia faithful. Evans stepped up to the line and hit two free throws for a 70-66 lead, forcing the Cavaliers to call a timeout with 1:51 remaining.

The Blue Devils couldn’t force a stop out of that break, so they headed back down the court with a clipped 70-68 lead. Cameron Boozer failed to earn separation with two missed free throws, and a foul on Cayden Boozer with 51 seconds to go sent Thomas to the line. His one-and-one rimmed out and gave Duke the ball back.

and Chance Mallory each put their name on a triple in the first four minutes, reasserting a 49-45 lead for the underdogs.

Virginia big man Ugonna Onyenso frustrated Cameron Boozer out of the next timeout, twice swatting the ball out of the freshman’s hands near the basket. Duke went nearly three minutes without a field goal until Boozer broke his personal 7:10 scoring drought with a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Back within one, the Blue Devils desperately tried to recalibrate. Harris grabbed a defensive rebound, and Nikolas Khamenia turned it into two free throws after drawing a foul down the court. Virginia, however, retook the lead with its own trip to the charity stripe. A Harris fast-break layup through contact was an eventual tipping point, putting a 53-51 score in Duke’s favor.

The Cavaliers had double-teamed Cameron Boozer from the start, preventing the freshman phenom from getting a good look for nearly 14 minutes. It was Cayden Boozer who exploded to keep Duke alive early on. The young point guard tallied 14 first-half points, including two driving layups and a 3-pointer in the opening 10 minutes. When Virginia leapt to a 12-6 advantage in just five minutes, it was the floor general who eventually retook a 15-14 lead with two free throws.

“I thought Cayden just completely put us on his back in that first half,” Scheyer said. “The job he did — just running the show, scoring, defending, really doing everything — and to play 40 minutes against Virginia when they’re pressing you the whole game was just an incredible performance.”

The season that these guys have had, the will to win end of the game ... It was an incredible performance

The lead would eventually change hands eight times in the first half alone as six of the seven players in Duke’s shortened rotation joined in on the scoring action. Khamenia sank a few layups, and Cameron Boozer connected with Maliq Brown on a crowd-pleasing alley-oop. When Jacari White made his second 3-pointer of the night for a 21-20 Virginia advantage, Cayden Boozer responded with another under-the-basket layup.

JON SCHEYER Head Coach

Cameron Boozer found his next layup blocked, but the freshman grabbed his own rebound to reset the 12-second shot clock in Duke’s favor. Evans earned another trip to the line and converted critical charity points for a four-point lead. Thomas drove for a last-ditch layup, but two more Cameron Boozer free throws sealed the 74-70 score.

With a Cayden Boozer steal, it was Duke’s conference crown. “I’m just so proud that we could keep going back to what you control,” head coach Jon Scheyer said. “You can control your defense. You can control your talk and how you continue to make those plays when it comes to rebounding. I think that’s something we learned tonight, that we can trust our defense even when our offense isn’t the smoothest.”

The Blue Devils struggled to hold onto their wispy twopoint lead out of the halftime break. Evans and Sam Lewis traded 3-pointers, but a disjointed Duke defense afforded the Cavaliers several good looks on the perimeter. Lewis

Near the eight-minute mark in the first half, Dame Sarr stole the ball and set off a mad scramble near half-court with a slightly off-target pass. Cayden Boozer came to the rescue, and his layup made it through the net with some tip-in help from Sarr.

“I’m just super proud of him. You know, I’ve seen all the work he puts in, how great of a player he is,” Cameron Boozer said of his brother. “For him to come here with two guys down, to really step up for us, it’s going to give him tremendous confidence going into the tournament. We’re gonna need that from him the rest of the year.”

Evans hit his first 3-pointer of the night with 2:53 to go in the first half, and Cayden Boozer dunked the ball on a fast break for a seven-point lead moments later. But a Khamenia foul gave the ball back to Virginia, and a bad pass from Duke’s point guard allowed Dallin Hall to sink a 3-pointer that brought the Cavaliers back within two.

“I think we’re going to learn so much from this,” Scheyer said. “The season that these guys have had, the will to win end of the game ... It was an incredible performance.”

After celebrating their win, the Blue Devils will await their

80 79

Isaiah Evans exploded for a career-high 32 points.

Duke’s 19-2 run near the end of the second half provided a critical advantage.

Cameron Boozer finished with a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double.

SEMIFINALS

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Cayden Boozer had a careerhigh 16 points as starting point guard.

Isaiah Evans grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds.

Duke held Clemson to its second-lowest point total of the season.

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The Blue Devils never led the Cavaliers by more than seven points.

Cayden Boozer matched his career-high 16 points.

Jon Scheyer earned his third ACC Tournament title in four seasons.

Kara Lawson named ACC Coach of the Year as Fournier, Mair, Jackson, Roberson collect all-conference honors

By Martin Heintzelman and Ryan Hamner

After a season that saw some remarkable lows before its eventual highs, Duke head coach Kara Lawson has earned some recognition for turning the ship around.

Lawson was honored as ACC Coach of the Year, the conference announced in a press release. She beat out Louisville skipper Jeff Walz, as well as Syracuse’s Felisha Legette-Jack. It marks Lawson’s first career win of the award, following an ACC season in which her Blue Devils

won their first outright regular-season championship since 2013 — as well as earned a 16-2 ACC record. Lawson led Duke to the conference championship and positioned them to host in the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament. The last time a Blue Devil head coach won the award was former leader Joan McCallie, also in 2013.

Elsewhere on the roster, sophomore forward Toby Fournier and senior guard Taina Mair were each named to both the All-ACC First Team and the conference All-Defensive team, and senior guard Ashlon Jackson earned a spot on the All-

ACC Second Team. Fournier received the second-highest number of votes behind Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, also coming in second to the Fighting Irish guard on the conference’s AllDefensive Team. The Toronto native’s selection marks her second-straight first team appearance after earning 2025 ACC Rookie of the Year honors.

Fournier finished the regular season with 17.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per contest while racking up 66 blocks.

This is Mair’s first all-conference honor since her 2023 All-Freshman Team selection. The senior averaged

11.0 points and 5.6 assists per game in her final regular season in Durham, along with 70 steals. Jackson also earned a spot on the 2025 All-ACC Second Team, and finished her regular-season wBlue Devil career averaging 11.9 points and 3.4 assists.

Freshman center Arianna Roberson was the third selection to the AllFreshman team after averaging 8.7 points and 5.9 rebounds in her first full season of collegiate action. Roberson also came in second in Sixth Player of the Year voting, behind Louisville’s Imari Berry.

‘She’s a winner’: Senior point guard Taina Mair’s energy sets the standard

By Ranjan Jindal Senior Editor

Notre Dame cut Duke’s lead to three, 24-21, in the ACC Tournament semifinals with 4:48 to go in the half. The Blue Devils were struggling to produce on offense against a stingy Fighting Irish zone and needed a spark.

That’s when their senior point guard took over. Taina Mair pushed the pace and found junior Jordan Wood for a corner three before Notre Dame could set up its zone. She then did the same thing twice for Arianna Roberson layups, including beautifully looking off Vanessa de Jesus into the corner to set up the pass to Roberson. Two more assists ensued for a whopping five in 90 seconds.

Then, with 30 seconds left in the half, Mair grabbed an offensive rebound, tightroped the baseline and found a cutting Riley Nelson for the and-one. Duke took a confident lead into the locker room.

She affected 14 straight Duke points all without scoring a point. That’s Mair’s magic.

“When I play make and everybody’s getting buckets, everybody’s hype

for Duke women’s basketball

energy,” Mair said postgame. “Being a playmaker, I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”

“Look at the young lady to my left. That’s one of the best point guards in the country. And you just have to watch the games to realize that she’s a winner,” head coach Kara Lawson said after the Notre Dame win. “She does everything that you would want, and she’s unafraid of the moment as well. So I’m just fortunate enough to coach her. I get a lot of accolades or accomplishments because I coach a really good senior point guard.”

Let the country know about Taina Mair. I think the kid’s one of the best point guards in the country.

high-intensity, ball-dominant minutes. She can be seen picking up the opposing guards full-court and embodies the conditioning required to run Lawson’s scheme. When Duke limped to a 3-6 start against tough competition, Lawson always singled out Mair’s consistency and energy as a silver lining.

JEFF WALZ Louisville Head Coach

“She’s honestly just such a leader. She’s led us through everything at the beginning of the year, especially when we were having a lot of hard games, she really just helped us through all of that,” Toby Fournier said about Mair.

Mair ignites and directs Duke’s offense; she is the clear on-the-court leader that sets the tone and pace of play for the game. All of her numbers are up this year — points, steals, rebounds, assists — and she’s shooting 86.9% at the free-throw line. With 175 assists this year, she is second in Duke’s single-season history, only behind WNBA great Chelsea Gray. But outside the stats, it’s the intangibles that Lawson loves about her point guard’s game.

“We evaluate players based off of statistics, and we’ve lost the wonloss record or their ability to make winning plays, and that, to me, is the most important characteristic,” Lawson said. “What matters is, do you lead your team to wins? And that’s what Mair does.”

Mair transferred in from Boston College after her freshman season and has started at the point guard position for three straight seasons. Since then, Duke’s won the ACC twice and made the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Mair was just crowned the ACC Tournament MVP. She’s also ninth on the league’s career assist chart.

That’s not to say she doesn’t score. Duke needed every one of Mair’s 19 points in the ACC Championship game against Louisville. Her three threes came in crucial moments; to tie the game up in the second quarter and to give her team its first second-half lead with 7:02 in the fourth.

But perhaps her most important number was the 12 rebounds she accumulated to lead her team against the Cardinals. Often one of if not the shortest players on the floor, Mair has recorded double-figures in rebounding three times this season. After stalwart rebounder and fellow guard Oluchi Okananwa departed in the transfer portal, Mair has filled the necessary rebounding void on a team that prides itself on limiting opposing possessions.

“For us to be a good team, our guards have to rebound as well,” Lawson said. “I think all year, she’s been one of our best rebounders.”

“Let the country know about Taina Mair. I think the kid’s one of the best point guards in the country. You barely hear about her,” Louisville head coach Jeff Walz said postgame.

The impressive part is her hustle and production with the minutes she plays. After stepping back last season in minutes, Mair frequently reaches the high 30s in

Mair typically is a leader by example. Her hard work and commitment to the improvement process is infectious. But this year, the typically quiet guard added an extra challenge. Just like her coach did after four years in college, Mair has found her voice.

“I definitely talk a lot more this year than I’ve ever done at any point in my life, just in the sense of, on the court, we want to communicate to my teammates, calling our plays, calling our actions,” Mair said. “Coach Lawson was like, ‘You need to talk.’ She kind of forced me to. She’s like, ‘I need to hear your voice.’”

“Run your team!” Lawson yelled to Mair against N.C. State after a couple sloppy third quarter minutes in the Feb. 19 contest between the two teams. Her leader responded with a nine-assist performance en route to the win. That statement shows the confidence Lawson has in Mair; she doesn’t call timeouts frequently because she trusts Mair to steady the flow mid-game.

“The thing I love about her is she knows she owns it when she doesn’t play well, but if you want to be a team that wins, your players when they don’t play well, still have to impact the game,” Lawson said after the N.C. State game. “And so Mair’s got 11 boards and nine assists in a game that was below her level.”

She’s mirrored the hustle that her coach played with as a point guard 25 years ago at Tennessee.

“Mair’s the closest,” Lawson said after Duke’s Feb. 15 win against North Carolina when asked what player reflects the way she plays. “I’d still beat her though,” she quipped.

“Her being a point guard, she gives me all the hints, all the answers of the test, everything,” Mair said. “I mean, I can’t ask for a better coach or a better mentor.”

Every good team needs a strong point guard in March. And after three years, Mair has embraced her role bringing the ball up the court. Duke doesn’t win 24 games or the ACC Tournament without her. But regardless of what happens in March, Mair has defined how a Blue Devil point guard should play and work.

“I work hard every day. I just try to be the best version of myself for everybody who surrounds me,” Mair said after the Louisville game. “That’s the least I could give, especially being a senior, just trying to set a standard before I have to leave.”

Nelson, sitting to Mair’s left, nodded her head for emphasis. “[She works] so hard. So hard,” she added.