Cameron Boozer’s extraordinary potential is evident from the way Tennessee coach Rick Barnes described him before the Duke freshman forward even played a college game that counts.
“One of the best players in the country,” Barnes said after Boozer collected 24 points and 23 rebounds in No. 6 Duke’s 83-76 exhibition victory over No. 18 Tennessee on Sunday.
Boozer ranks alongside Kansas’ Darryn Peterson and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa as the best players in a freshman class that’s loaded with star power at the top. They have a chance of being the first three players taken in next year’s NBA draft.
Boozer might have the most familiar name in the group because of his family ties. Boozer and his twin brother and Duke teammate, Cayden Boozer, are sons of two-time NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer, who won a national title at Duke.
Cameron and Cayden Boozer played on four straight Florida state championship teams at Miami’s Columbus High School. Cameron Boozer, a three-time Florida Mr. Basketball, was named the Gatorade national boys basketball player of the year in 2023 and 2025. He was the nation’s No. 3 prospect in his class and Cayden was ranked 20th, according to 247Sports.
“He is a warrior, man,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said about Cameron Boozer. “I think that’s the best thing I can say about him.”
Scheyer made that comment after the 6-foot-9 forward collected 33 points and 12 rebounds in a 96-71 exhibition victory over UCF. Boozer followed that up with his big performance against Tennessee.
“He’s as good as I’ve seen in a long time up close and personal,” Barnes said after that game.
Some other freshmen who should make an immediate impact this season:
Acuff scored 17 points in each of Arkansas’ two exhibition games – an 89-61 win over Cincinnati and a 99-75 triumph over Memphis. He also averaged 5.5 assists in those two games. The 6-3 guard was ranked 11th in the 247Sports Composite and was one of five finalists for the Naismith Award given annually to the nation’s top high school player. Acuff is from Detroit but finished his high school career at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
Ament is ranked fourth in the 247Sports Composite and is generally listed just below the trio of Dybantsa, Peterson and Boozer in terms of their potential 2026 draft position. The 6-10 forward had 19 points, 10 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game at Highland School in Warrenton, Virginia. He was named the Gatorade Virginia high school player of the year. Ament had 14 points and 10 rebounds in the exhibition loss to Duke.
Dybantsa, who is 6-9, signed with BYU as the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect according to the 247Sports Composite. He was one of five players selected to the Associated Press All-America preseason team. Dybantsa averaged 24 points in No. 8 BYU’s exhibition games with Nebraska and No. 25 North Carolina. Dybantsa grew up in Massachusetts and was named that state’s Gatorade player of the year as a freshman before transferring first to Prolific Prep in Napa, California, and eventually to Utah Prep.
Peterson won the Naismith Trophy as the national high school player of the year last season. The 6-6 guard from Canton, Ohio, is rated second in his class by the 247Sports Composite. Peterson scored 18 points in the McDonald’s All-American Game to share MVP honors with Boozer. He had 26 points in the 19th-ranked Jayhawks’ 90-82 exhibition victory over No. 11 Louisville.
Wilson had 22 points and 10 rebounds in North Carolina’s 78-76 exhibition loss to BYU. The 6-10 forward from Atlanta was named the Gatorade high school player of the year in Georgia and is ranked fifth in the 247Sports Composite. He had 21.7 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 3.6 blocks and 2.1 steals per game his senior year at Holy Innocents Episcopal School. He had 28 points and six rebounds in the Jordan Brand Classic.
This 6-5 wing is from the West African country of Benin but played high school basketball at St. Joseph in Santa Maria, California. He was ranked 14th in his class according to the 247Sports Composite. Yessoufou scored 21 points in Baylor’s 79-74 exhibition victory over Grand Canyon. He followed that up by collecting 12 points and nine rebounds in Baylor’s second exhibition game, a 76-74 loss to Indiana.
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Tennessee forward Nate Ament (10) drives against Duke guard Dame Sarr (7) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball exhibition game Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
BERLIN (AP) — The eight European countries targeted by U.S. President Donald Trump for a 10% tariff for opposing American control of Greenland blasted the move Sunday, warning that the American leader's threats “undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
In an unusual and very strong joint statement coming from major U.S. allies, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland on Sunday said troops sent to Greenland for the Danish military training exercise “Arctic Endurance” pose “no threat to anyone.”
Trump's Saturday announcement sets up a potentially dangerous test of U.S. partnerships in Europe. The Republican president appeared to indicate that he was using the tariffs as leverage to force talks over the status of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark that he regards as critical to U.S. national security.
“We stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland," the group said. “Building on the process begun last week, we stand ready to engage in a dialogue based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that we stand firmly behind. Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
There are immediate questions about how the White House could try to implement the tariffs because the EU is a single economic zone in terms of trading. It was unclear, too, how Trump could act under U.S. law, though he could cite emergency economic powers that are currently subject to a U.S. Supreme Court challenge.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said China and Russia will benefit from the divisions between the U.S. and Europe. She added in a post on social media: “If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO. Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity."
Trump's move was also panned domestically.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, a former U.S. Navy pilot and Democrat who represents Arizona, posted that Trump’s threatened tariffs on U.S. allies would make Americans “pay more to try to get territory we don’t need.”
“Troops from European countries are arriving in Greenland to defend the territory from us. Let that sink in,” he wrote on social media. “The damage this President is doing to our reputation and our relationships is growing, making us less safe. If something doesn’t change we will be on our own with adversaries and enemies in every direction.”
Six of the countries targeted are part of the 27-member EU, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of trading. It was not immediately clear if Trump's tariffs would impact the entire bloc. EU envoys scheduled emergency talks for Sunday evening to determine a potential response.
The tariff announcement even drew blowback from Trump's populist allies in Europe.
Italy’s right-wing premier, Giorgia Meloni, considered one of Trump’s closest allies on the continent, said Sunday she had spoken to him about the tariffs, which she described as “a mistake.”
The deployment to Greenland of small numbers of troops by some European countries was misunderstood by Washington, Meloni told reporters. She said the deployment was not a move against the U.S. but aimed to provide security against “other actors” that she didn’t name.
French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media that “no intimidation or threats will influence us, whether in Ukraine, Greenland or anywhere else in the world when we are faced with such situations." He added that "tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context.”
Jordan Bardella, president of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party in France and also a European Parliament lawmaker, posted that the EU should suspend last year’s tariff deal with the U.S., describing Trump’s threats as “commercial blackmail.”
Trump also achieved the rare feat of uniting Britain’s main political parties — including the hard-right Reform UK party — all of whom criticized the tariff threat.
“We don’t always agree with the U.S. government and in this case we certainly don’t. These tariffs will hurt us,” Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a longtime champion and ally of Trump, wrote on social media. He stopped short of criticizing Trump's designs on Greenland.
Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who leads the center-left Labour Party, said the tariffs announcement was “completely wrong” and his government would “be pursuing this directly with the U.S. administration.”
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Norway are also expected to address the crisis Sunday in Oslo during a news conference.
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Leicester reported from Paris and Cook from Brussels. Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London, Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, Aamer Madhani in Washington and Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.
A crowd walks to the US consulate to protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A boy holds a crossed out map of Greenland topped by a hairpiece symbolizing U.S. President Donald Trump, during a protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
