Cooper Flagg's former Duke teammate stole the spotlight Sunday when the Atlanta Tipoff Club presented the 2026 Naismith men’s college awards, with Duke forward Cooper Flagg winning the men’s college player of the year honor. AJ Dybantsa was among the finalists for the prize, alongside Arkansas guard Darius Acuff Jr. and Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg.
Boozer’s win was the 10th in Duke’s storied history, a number that underlined how quickly he turned a dominant season into a place in the program’s record book. He averaged 22.5 points, an ACC-high 10.2 rebounds per game and 4.1 assists per game, and led Division I in offensive win shares, defensive win shares and total win shares.
His 10.38 win shares were the second-most by any men’s player in any season in the 2020s, trailing only Purdue center Zach Edey’s 10.47 in 2024. That kind of production is why the Naismith awards are treated as three of the sport’s most prestigious individual honors, and why Sunday’s announcement landed at a moment when college basketball was already nearing its finish line.
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The timing mattered because the season was still alive, with UConn and Michigan set to battle for the national championship on Monday. For Dybantsa, the finalist spot put him in a group that also reflected how wide open the top of the sport has become, even as one player after another is measured against a season that will be remembered as much for efficiency as for volume.
