CHARLOTTE, N.C. (NCN Sports) — Duke freshman Cameron Boozer, the consensus men’s basketball national player of the year, has been named the 2025-26 recipient of the Anthony J. McKevlin Award as the ACC Male Athlete of the Year, as voted on by 40 members of the Atlantic Coast Conference media.
Boozer is the 18th Duke student-athlete to earn the award, the most in ACC history. He led Duke to the ACC regular-season and tournament championships, an NCAA Elite Eight appearance and a 35-3 overall record. He swept ACC Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors, earned ACC Tournament MVP recognition and was a consensus first-team All-American.
The freshman forward led Duke in scoring, rebounding and assists, averaging 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game while shooting 55.6% from the field. He started all 38 games, totaling 855 points, 389 rebounds and 157 assists.
Boozer’s season was defined by remarkable consistency and historic production. He recorded at least 13 points, five rebounds and two assists in every game, the longest such streak by any Division I player (men’s or women’s) this century. He became the first freshman or sophomore to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in a season since Larry Bird in 1976-77, and the only Division I player in the last 30 years to total at least 700 points, 300 rebounds and 100 assists while shooting at least 50% from the field in a single regular season.
Boozer tied for the national lead with 22 double-doubles and became just the second Duke freshman to reach that total in a season. He ranked ninth nationally in scoring and 12th in rebounding, while setting Duke freshman records for rebounds (389) and free throws made (221). His 855 points rank second in program history for a freshman.
Over the course of the season, Boozer earned ACC Player of the Week honors five times and ACC Rookie of the Week recognition 10 times, sweeping both awards on five occasions, a feat matched by only one other player in league history, fellow Blue Devil Cooper Flagg in 2024-25.
The No. 3 overall pick by the Memphis Grizzlies in last month’s 2026 NBA Draft, Boozer tabulated 22 votes for the McKevlin Award, leading NC State’s Isaac Trumble (seven) and North Carolina’s Caden Glauber (five).
Boozer’s award is the 13th claimed by the Duke men’s basketball program, the most by any ACC program. Flagg won the award in 2024-25, while Zion Williamson was Duke’s previous recipient in 2018-19.
Olivia Babcock of Pittsburgh’s women’s volleyball program won the Mary Garber Award as the ACC’s top female athlete in 2025-26.
The ACC Athlete of the Year Awards are given in memory of distinguished journalists. McKevlin was a sports editor of the Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, while Mary Garber, of the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, was a pioneer as one of the first female sports journalists in the nation.