Carlos Boozer Couldn’t Stop Mocking Other Teams. Then Karma Ended Duke’s Season.

On Friday night, Carlos Boozer stood in the stands at Duke’s Sweet 16 win over St. John’s and waved goodbye to the opposing fans as the final seconds ticked off. The video went viral. People called it childish. Others said it was a former NBA All-Star being a proud dad. Either way, everybody saw it.

Two days later, his son Cayden Boozer was bringing the ball up the floor with Duke leading UConn 72-70 and less than 10 seconds left in the Elite Eight. A pass was deflected at midcourt. UConn’s Braylon Mullins grabbed it and launched a three from 35 feet.

It went in with 0.4 seconds remaining.

UConn 73, Duke 72. Season over. Duke’s 19-point first-half lead gone. The Boozer family’s dream of a championship run at the same school where their father won one 25 years ago, gone.

And somewhere on the internet, thousands of people immediately started searching for footage of Carlos Boozer’s face during those final seconds.

Carlos Boozer waving goodbye to the St. John’s fans 👋#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/mCWlEEWZTF

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 28, 2026

The Boozers and Duke

To understand why this story hit so hard, you need to understand what the Boozer name means at Duke.

Carlos Boozer played three seasons at Duke from 1999 to 2002. He was the heart of a dominant era. He won the 2001 NCAA Championship as a sophomore. He was a first-team All-ACC selection and ACC Tournament MVP as a junior. He left as Duke’s all-time leader in field goal percentage at .631. He’s in the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame.

After college, he was drafted 35th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2002 and went on to play 13 years in the NBA for the Cavs, the Utah Jazz, the Chicago Bulls, and the Los Angeles Lakers. He was a two-time All-Star in 2007 and 2008, made the All-NBA Third Team, and won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA in Beijing. He averaged 16.2 points and 9.5 rebounds over 861 career games.

Then his twin sons grew up to be two of the most recruited basketball players in the country.

Cameron Boozer was named Gatorade National Player of the Year twice, in 2023 and 2025. He was the second-ranked recruit in the class of 2025 and a consensus five-star prospect. His twin brother Cayden was also a five-star recruit and one of the top point guards in the class. Both committed to Duke.

The narrative wrote itself. Carlos Boozer’s sons, following in their father’s footsteps at the same school where he won a national title. Cameron arrived as the projected number one pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Cayden arrived as the point guard who would run the show for him.

The whole season felt like it was building toward something.

The Tournament Run

Duke entered the 2026 NCAA Tournament as one of the favorites. Cameron Boozer had been dominant all year, becoming the first Duke freshman to score 35 or more points in multiple games. He was the National Player of the Year frontrunner.

In the Sweet 16 on Friday, Duke beat Rick Pitino’s St. John’s team 80-75. Cameron had 22 points and 10 rebounds. It was a hard-fought game with a heated ending, and after the final buzzer, Carlos Boozer was caught on camera in the stands waving goodbye to the St. John’s fans.

The NCAA March Madness account posted the clip. It racked up hundreds of thousands of views. Fans called it disrespectful. Others thought it was funny. The moment became the most talked-about thing from Friday’s games.

Then came Sunday.

The Collapse

Duke came out on fire against UConn in the Elite Eight. They built a 44-25 lead late in the first half. Nineteen points up. It looked like the Boozers were going to the Final Four.

UConn had made just 1 of their first 18 three-point attempts. They looked cooked.

But Dan Hurley’s team started chipping away. Tarris Reed Jr. kept UConn in it with 26 points. Slowly, possession by possession, the lead started to shrink. In the final seven minutes, UConn caught fire from three, hitting four of their last five attempts after missing almost everything for the first 33 minutes.

Alex Karaban, who had been ice cold all game, drilled a three to cut Duke’s lead to 70-69. Cameron Boozer answered with a bucket to push it back to 72-69 with under 30 seconds left.

With the clock winding down, a Boozer fouled Silas Demary Jr. and sent him to the line. Demary hit the first free throw to cut it to 72-70 but missed the second. Duke grabbed the rebound. Two-point lead. 10 seconds left. Ball in their hands.

All they had to do was inbound safely and run out the clock.

Cayden Boozer handled the ball. His pass was deflected at midcourt by Silas Demary Jr. Braylon Mullins, a UConn freshman, grabbed the loose ball and quickly fired it ahead to Alex Karaban. Karaban gave it right back to Mullins near the half-court logo. Mullins pulled up and launched a three-pointer from 35 feet.

It went in with 0.4 seconds left.

UConn 73, Duke 72.

The 19-point comeback was the third largest in Elite Eight history or later in the NCAA Tournament. UConn advanced to the Final Four for the third time in four years.

The Aftermath

Cameron Boozer finished with 27 points, eight rebounds, and four assists in what is almost certainly his last college game. He’s widely expected to be the first overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Cayden Boozer, who had played a clean game up to that point with 15 points, five rebounds, six assists, two steals, and zero turnovers, spoke to reporters afterward.

“I should’ve been stronger with the ball,” he said. “I ruined our team’s season.”

Cayden Boozer says he feels like he let his brother down. May be the last time they get to play together. pic.twitter.com/CCMSOm5Zvw

— Brian Murphy (@murphsturph) March 30, 2026

He also said he felt like he had let his brother down. That it might have been the last time they ever got to play together.

The internet had a different focus. Within minutes of the buzzer, “Boozer” was trending. Not because of Cameron’s 27 points or the UConn comeback. Because everyone wanted to find footage of Carlos Boozer in the stands during those final 10 seconds. The man who had been waving goodbye to St. John’s fans 48 hours earlier just watched his son’s turnover end everything.

The Laettner Echo

There was one more layer to this that the older fans caught immediately.

Thirty-six years ago, in 1990, Duke played UConn in the Elite Eight. Christian Laettner, a Duke sophomore, hit a buzzer-beater to beat the Huskies and send Duke to the Final Four.

In 2026, a UConn freshman hit a buzzer-beater to beat Duke in the Elite Eight and send UConn to the Final Four.

Thirty-six years of payback, delivered from 35 feet.

And for the Boozer family, a week that started with Carlos waving goodbye ended with someone else waving goodbye to them.

Carlos Garcia

A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.