Flagg vs Boozer
Back-to-back generational freshmen. Who had the better debut?
Per game averages
Head-to-head by category
Shooting efficiency
Season totals
The verdict
Boozer leads in scoring (22.5 vs 19.2), rebounding (10.2 vs 7.5), and field goal percentage (56.5% vs 48.1%). He's averaging a double-double as a freshman — only the second Duke player to do that since Zion Williamson in 2018-19. He also gets there on better efficiency, shooting nearly 57% from the field.
Flagg's edge is on the defensive end — 1.4 blocks per game vs Boozer's 0.5, and his free throw shooting (84% vs 77.5%) shows a more polished perimeter game. Their assists are identical at 4.2, remarkable for two forwards.
The real differentiator? Flagg was a two-way force who could switch 1-5, block shots, and run the offense. Boozer is a scoring and rebounding machine who does his damage between the paint and the three-point line. Different builds, different skill sets, same result: generational Duke freshmen.
*2025-26 stats through Sweet 16 (34 games). Source: GoDuke.com official cumulative statistics, ESPN. Built by DukeBrotherhood.com.
Cooper Flagg vs. Cameron Boozer: The Two Best Freshman Seasons in Duke History
Back-to-back years, back-to-back national players of the year, and no obvious way to separate them. This page puts Cooper Flagg's 2024-25 freshman season beside Cameron Boozer's 2025-26 on every category the box score records, so the comparison runs on numbers rather than memory.
Boozer wins the counting stats outright. He averaged 22.5 points and 10.2 rebounds over 38 games, against Flagg's 19.2 and 7.5 over 37 — three points and nearly three rebounds a night more, with 21 double-doubles. He was also the more efficient scorer by a wide margin, shooting 55.6% from the field to Flagg's 48.1%, and the two were effectively identical from three, 39.1% to 38.5%.
Where Flagg Closes the Gap
The passing is a dead heat — 4.2 assists per game for Flagg, 4.1 for Boozer, both absurd figures for a forward. Flagg was the better free-throw shooter, at 84.0% to 78.9%, which matters more than it looks in March. And Flagg carried a defensive load that no box score fully captures: he guarded one through five, and the eye-test consensus was that he was the best defender in college basketball, which Boozer was not.
The team results split the same way the individual numbers do. Flagg's Duke reached the Final Four and lost to Houston. Boozer's went 35-3, took the No. 1 overall seed, and lost an Elite Eight game to UConn on a 35-foot buzzer-beater — a better regular season and a worse March.
Historical Context
Both seasons belong in the small group of Duke freshman years that changed the program's expectations: Zion Williamson's 22.6 and 8.9 in 2018-19, Marvin Bagley III's 21.0 and 11.1 in 2017-18, Jahlil Okafor's championship season in 2014-15. Boozer's rebounding is the highest of that group after Bagley; Flagg's assist rate is the highest of any of them.
The draft rendered its own verdict, and it was closer than the college numbers suggest. Flagg went first overall to Dallas in 2025 and won Rookie of the Year, scoring 49 against Charlotte — the most by a teenager in NBA history. Boozer went third overall to Memphis in 2026, behind AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson, despite the better freshman line. Scouts were buying Flagg's defensive versatility and positional size over Boozer's production, which is the same trade the numbers on this page describe.