{"id":700014,"date":"2026-04-05T18:37:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T18:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/700014\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T18:37:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T18:37:27","slug":"cameron-boozer-reveals-injury-he-received-in-dukes-season-ending-loss-to-uconn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/700014\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameron Boozer Reveals Injury He Received in Duke\u2019s Season-Ending Loss to UConn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7e\">Duke\u2019s loss to UConn in the men\u2019s Elite Eight last Sunday was an epic choke by any standard, but it was certainly not the fault of Blue Devils forward Cameron Boozer.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7h\">In what may have been his final college game, Boozer put up 27 points on 10-for-21 shooting while pulling down eight rebounds and four assists. That capped a season that saw him average 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game en route to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college-basketball\/mens-cbb-naismith-awards-no-1-seeds-sweep-honors\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Naismith Award as the best player in men\u2019s college basketball<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7k\">As the college hoops-adjacent world prepares to turn its attention to the NBA draft, Boozer surprised fans and observers Sunday by revealing he was injured against the Huskies.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7n\">Specifically, per <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BryanDFischer\/status\/2040837519810449503?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Sports Illustrated\u2019s Bryan Fischer,<\/a> Boozer received \u201ca couple of fractures\u201d around his eye.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7q\">In his freshman year, Boozer proved exceptionally durable, finishing seventh in the ACC in minutes played per game (and first in minutes played overall). Duke went 35\u20133, capturing the No. 1 overall seed and advancing to the Elite Eight before its instant-classic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college-basketball\/a-moment-of-truth-cbs-viral-uconn-crowd-shot\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">loss to UConn<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Boozer\u2019s injury appears minor relative to some of his potential draft peers<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7z\">The Miami-area native has all the makings of a potential top-five draft pick\u2014and while his injury obviously isn\u2019t good news, it appears minor compared to two of his most notable peers.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"82\">Kansas guard Darryn Peterson will likely be the biggest injury-related question mark in the 2026 draft. Peterson shuttled in and out of the Jayhawks\u2019 lineup <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college-basketball\/darryn-peterson-injury-timeline-kansas-season\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">all season long<\/a> with various ailments, including an ankle injury, cramps and a hamstring injury. If healthy, however, he has a chance to go No. 1 overall.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"85\">The other wild card is North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson, who fractured his left hand against Miami in February and then broke his thumb dunking in practice. The latter injury brought a premature end to an season that ended with an All-America selection.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01knfejnd11f3t3agxv7.jpg\" alt=\"Former Duke Blue Devils player Carlos Boozer reacts after a play during the men's ACC Conference Tournament Championship.\" title=\"Former Duke Blue Devils player Carlos Boozer reacts after a play during the men's ACC Conference Tournament Championship.\" width=\"2003\" height=\"1126\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"8f\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Former Duke star Carlos Boozer, father of Cameron and Cayden, was a longtime NBA forward and a two-time All-Star. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Cameron will try to carry on his father\u2019s NBA legacy<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8m\">The 2020s have seen an onslaught of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2025\/06\/30\/heir-ball-how-the-cost-of-youth-sports-is-changing-the-nba\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">second-generation NBA players<\/a>, of which Cameron surely ranks among the best. His father, Carlos Boozer, played three years as a center for the Blue Devils\u2014winning a national title in 2001 and making the All-ACC team in 2002.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8p\">The Cavaliers drafted Carlos in the second round in 2002, and he outperformed expectations by making two All-Star teams and an All-NBA team in 2007 and 2008 with the Jazz. He later played three seasons with the Bulls and one with the Lakers before retiring.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8s\">Cameron\u2019s twin brother, Cayden, played for Duke this year as well. The guard made the All-ACC Tournament and All-East Region teams, averaging 7.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and three assists per game.<\/p>\n<p>More March Madness on Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"90\">Listen to SI\u2019s college sports podcast,\u00a0Others Receiving Votes, below or on<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/others-receiving-votes\/id1834741833\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0Apple<\/a>\u00a0and<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/7Arsw6ozKQIPm7ep9jLvao\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0Spotify<\/a>. Watch the show on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@sportsillustratedcollege\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0SI College YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Duke\u2019s loss to UConn in the men\u2019s Elite Eight last Sunday was an epic choke by any standard,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,231,772,1544],"class_list":{"0":"post-700014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-basketball","12":"tag-ncaab"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116353555550590734","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}