March Madness a stage for 3-way race for NBA draft’s No. 1 pick

The debate over which player is taken first overall in this year’s NBA draft has to include Duke freshman Cameron Boozer, the clubhouse leader for national player of the year.

With his double-double consistency in leading the Blue Devils to the top of the USA TODAY Sports Men’s College Basketball Poll, Boozer has joined a pair of fellow freshmen who have paced the conversation since the summer in Kansas guard Darryn Peterson and Brigham Young forward AJ Dybantsa.

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At various points this season, each of these three contenders has shown explosive bursts of production that paint him as the top player in a draft class that’s deep enough to have triggered tanking efforts among the worst teams in the league — and in turn made efforts to limit or prevent tanking a major theme for the NBA.

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“It’s an extremely strong draft class,” said Ben Pfeifer, an independent draft analyst. “And it starts at the top with, I think, three MVP-level, No. 1-pick-caliber guys in Peterson, Dybantsa and Cameron Boozer. But then I think even as you go down there is a ton of quality depth. I think there are more guys that could reasonably go in the lottery than lottery spots available and more first-round-quality players than first-round spots.”

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In this month’s NCAA tournament, front offices and talent evaluators will be keeping close tabs on Boozer, Dybantsa and Peterson as they attempt to answer one of the most intriguing questions of the 2025-26 season: Who goes No. 1?

Cameron Boozer’s consistency propels Duke

Cameron Boozer has led top-ranked Duke to ACC regular season and tournament titles and a No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Following in the footsteps of former Duke star Cooper Flagg, who had a memorable one-year run under coach Jon Scheyer and is now putting together a transcendent rookie season for the Dallas Mavericks, Boozer is averaging 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game for the top-ranked Blue Devils.

His consistency can’t be ignored:…

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Publish date : 2026-03-18 10:02:00

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