What do the Mighty Ducks, Buster Douglas, the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team and 2025 Duke basketball all have in common?
They’re America’s favorite underdog!
After blowing a nine-point lead with just three minutes to play against Houston in the Final Four, Duke was ceremoniously bounced from the tournament. The Blue Devils were heavy favorites—as they usually are—so why in the world are we calling them underdogs?
Well, don’t take my word for it. Take incoming freshman and No. 3 recruit in the country, Cameron Boozer’s:
“We’re very overlooked right now,” Boozer said. “Once the season starts, that’ll change for sure.”
In what universe has Duke basketball ever been overlooked?
They’re one of the few college basketball programs that can command headlines year-round, and they just made a Final Four run in Jon Scheyer’s third season as head coach.
Scheyer has picked up right where Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski left off with his team’s play on the court—and dare I say, he’s somehow been even better as a recruiter.
Duke Recruiting Rankings by Year:
2025: No. 1
2024: No. 1
2023: No. 2
2022: No. 1
The worst recruiting class Scheyer has brought in is the second-best in the country. So recruiting boards aren’t overlooking Duke. Must be the polls, right?
Nope.
The Blue Devils are a consensus top-10 team in most way-too-early rankings and could even open the season inside the top five.
This “everyone doubts us” shtick? It has Coach K’s fingerprints all over it. Scheyer, a former Blue Devil and longtime assistant, is following the same PR playbook. Whining to the media about being disrespected, when no team in college basketball gets the benefit of the doubt like Duke.
So I get that Cameron Boozer is just echoing the cookie-cutter coachspeak Scheyer is selling. But he’s at the one school where that line just doesn’t work. He’s the reigning Gatorade Player of the Year, part of the best recruiting class in the country, and attending the school with the second-most national titles in the last 50 years.
Still, maybe this isn’t a Duke problem. Maybe it’s a Boozer family problem—a situation where maybe you just don’t want to put a mic in front of these guys.
Cameron’s dad, NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer, once said the Cleveland Cavaliers had “better players than him (LeBron) in his position already on the team.”
That take aged like milk.
And I’m sure by December, we’ll be sick of hearing about Duke. That’s just how college basketball works.
