During Duke’s basketball practice Thursday, freshman Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje began shooting 3-pointers from the right wing.
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Swish, swish, swish, swish …
Boumtje Boumtje made nine in a row before a miss, then another nine straight. Later, the lefthander continued to hit 3s after Duke assistant coach Tyler Thornton began swinging a paddle up high to try to distract him and disrupt his rhythm.
Consider that Boumtje Boumtje is 7 feet, 2 inches tall, and often has to duck under doorways when he enters a room. He was handling and shooting the ball with the soft touch of a guard a foot shorter during the drill at the K Center.
Also consider that Boumtje Boumtje is 17 years old. “JBB,” as he’s called, reclassified a year so that he could join the Duke basketball program two years before he’s eligible for the NBA.
The late addition of Boumtje Boumtje, who was living in Spain and playing for FC Barcelona, only added to what undeniably is a motherlode of talent that Duke coach Jon Scheyer will have this season. Some are veterans with experience such as Caleb Foster and Pat Ngongba; some are 5-star freshmen such as Boumtje Boumtje and Cam Williams, and the combination should again have Duke among the nation’s elite.
“You want a balance of experience and talent,” Scheyer said Thursday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. “You try to achieve that balance as best you can, and I think we’ve done that with this group.”
A Final Four team? The Blue Devils were the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament last season but didn’t make it to Indianapolis for the Final Four.
Duke was a Final Four team in 2025, when it had Cooper Flagg — the national player of the year — and versatile Kon Knueppel to lead it. A year ago, it was another freshman, Cameron Boozer, who was named player of the year and then headed to the NBA.
But Duke’s last national title came in 2015. It has been a while since a banner went up.
“I’m incredibly excited to get going with this group,” Scheyer said. “It’s been built on nothing being promised to any of these guys when they came back or when they came in. It’s built on how to continue to evolve with our program and where we need to go.”
Once again, Scheyer said, the emphasis will be on what he calls the “98 percent,” or the time the player doesn’t have the ball and the impact on winning they can make without it. Defense and rebounding are not optional.
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“I think we’ll have good depth, but depth means nothing if you don’t sacrifice and you don’t have the connectiveness, so that’s what we’re focused on,” he said.
Boumtje Boumtje may be a starter from day one at power forward. Then again, 7-footer Cam Williams, another of the 5-star guys, could be a starter. Foster could be the starter at point guard, or it could be freshman Deron Rippey, Jr.
The Blue Devils brought in John Blackwell from the NCAA portal, a 6-5 senior transfer from Wisconsin. He’s a proven scorer from the Big Ten who has been in big games and will help replace the departure to the NBA of Isaiah “Slim” Evans, Duke’s second-leading scorer last season.
Boumtje Boumtje said the strength of his game is versatility. Blackwell said versatility. There are several on the roster who could say the same.
“We have multiple weapons, multiple ways to win,” Scheyer said.
Not to be overlooked is Cayden Boozer, Cam’s twin brother. The 6-4 sophomore guard is back for a second season and will play without his brother for the first time in a basketball season.
“I think we needed space,” Cayden Boozer joked Thursday.
Scheyer again praised Cayden Boozer’s willingness and determination to move on from the late turnover against UConn that kept Duke out of the Final Four. The player took responsibility that night in Washington D.C., stayed at Duke and said Thursday he is looking forward to making another run at the title.
“Obviously a tough moment,” Boozer said of the late turnover. “I think what was tougher for me was the fact that we lost.
“But at the end of the day, players are going to make mistakes, and I’m sure I’ll turn the ball over at some point this year, too. Being able to learn from that, I want to help our team win as much as I can, especially in being a leader for our guys. I put a lot of work in this summer, and I’m really confident in myself and confident in this team as well.”
There’s good reason to be confident. The practices, everyone agrees, have been intense, competitive, The Blue Devils, ACC champions the past two years, are gunning for a third — and a lot more.
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