College basketball rankings: Cameron Boozer starts slow, catches fire late in debut to lead Duke over Texas

Arizona forward Koa Peat was incredible Monday, getting 30 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals in a season-opening win over Florida. On the same night, Kansas guard Darryn Peterson scored 21 points in a blowout of Green Bay. BYU wing AJ Dybantsa also got 21 in a victory over Villanova.

This heralded freshman class got off to a great start.

So, on Tuesday, all eyes turned to Duke forward Cameron Boozer, a two-time Gatorade National Player of the Year who was making his season-debut against Texas. And, believe it or not, his college career started with … seven consecutive missed field-goal attempts.

Seven!

Boozer missed multiple 3-pointers. He missed multiple shots at the rim. His zero-point performance in the opening 20 minutes had Duke behind at halftime. But, and this is a testament to his overwhelming talent, Boozer still finished with 15 points, 13 rebounds, three steals, two assists and one block in 36 minutes of the Blue Devils’ 75-60 win over Texas that doubled as fourth-year coach Jon Scheyer’s 90th career victory.

“It was obviously a tough first half; I think my teammates did a great job picking me up,” Boozer said afterward. Scheyer challenged me at halftime, said that I played soft in the first half, which, you know, was true. It was true. Second half, like you said, had to change my mentality. Teammates did a great job finding me. We were the tougher team in the second half as a unit.”

Duke remains No. 10 in Wednesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. Texas, 24th in Tuesday’s Top 25 And 1, is now out after losing by 15 — and because the Longhorns are down to 38th at BartTorvik.com, and down to 45th at KenPom.com after shooting just 32.2% from the field against the Blue Devils.

Texas has been replaced in the Top 25 And 1 by Ole Miss, which is 1-0 following Monday’s season-opening win over Southeastern Louisiana. The Rebels will return to the court Friday to play Louisiana Monroe. 

Top 25 And 1 rankings