**BREAKING: Five-Star Power Forward Cameron Williams Commits to Duke – Jon Scheyer Lands the Crown Jewel of 2026 Class in Massive Recruiting Coup**
*By Adam Zagoria, ZAGSBLOG*
*November 26, 2025 – DURHAM, N.C.*
At 6:17 p.m. ET on Thanksgiving Eve, the college basketball recruiting world stopped scrolling turkey recipes and lost its collective mind.
Cameron Williams, the consensus No. 1 power forward and No. 4 overall player in the class of 2026, just announced on Instagram Live from his living room in Woodland Hills, California, that he has verbally committed to Duke University. Wearing a royal-blue Duke hoodie and flanked by his parents and AAU coach, the 6-foot-9, 225-pound lefty screamed, “I’m taking my talents to Cameron Indoor, baby! LFG!” before cutting the feed as blue-and-white fireworks exploded behind him.
The decision ends a two-year recruitment that felt more like a Hollywood blockbuster than a high school process. Williams chose Duke over a final six of Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, USC, and the G League Ignite, sources confirmed. He will reclassify into the 2025 class and enroll at Duke next summer, making him immediately eligible for the 2025-26 season alongside projected No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg and top-10 freshmen Patrick Ngongba II and Cayden Boozer.
“Coach Scheyer told me I’m the final piece,” Williams said in a follow-up phone interview with ZAGSBLOG. “He said, ‘Cam, I’m building the greatest frontcourt in college basketball history, and it doesn’t work without you.’ When the head coach of Duke tells you that on FaceTime at 2 a.m., you don’t say no.”
The numbers explain the hysteria. As a junior at Sierra Canyon (Calif.), Williams is averaging a ridiculous 24.8 points, 13.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 3.8 blocks while shooting 62% from the field and 39% from three on 5.5 attempts per game. In last week’s 40-point, 19-rebound demolition of top-ranked Prolific Prep, he hit five threes, euro-stepped 6-foot-10 five-star Darius Acuff Jr. into next week, and then blocked Acuff’s game-tying attempt into the third row. The clip has 11 million views and counting.
But it’s the skill package that has NBA scouts drooling. At 6-9 with a 7-foot-4 wingspan, a silky lefty handle, and a feathery mid-range pull-up, Williams is routinely compared to a bigger, stronger Chris Bosh with Kevin Durant’s release. One Western Conference GM texted ZAGSBLOG after the Prolific game: “He’s the best high school prospect I’ve seen since Zion. Lottery lock, maybe top-5.”
Duke’s pitch was simple and ruthless: start at the four next to Flagg at the five, run the same high-low actions that made Mark Williams and Paolo Banchero unstoppable, and play 30+ minutes as a freshman on a team projected as the 2025-26 preseason No. 1. Scheyer even sent Williams a hype video narrated by Kyrie Irving, ending with Coach K’s voice: “Cameron Indoor is waiting, young fella.”
Williams visited Durham officially November 8-10 for Countdown to Craziness and left campus visibly emotional after 8,000 Cameron Crazies chanted his name for three straight minutes during the intrasquad scrimmage. Sources say he told Flagg that night, “Bro, I’m not letting you do this alone.”
The dominoes fell fast. Kentucky coach Mark Pope flew out Monday for a last-ditch in-home. Kansas self-imposed recruiting restrictions after Level I violations eliminated them quietly two weeks ago. UCLA and USC pushed the “stay home” narrative hard, but Williams’ mother, Tamika, a Duke alumna who played on the 2000 women’s Final Four team, never hid her preference.
“Blood is blue,” she laughed on the live stream as Cameron signed a ceremonial Duke hat.
The commitment vaults Duke’s 2025 class – already No. 1 nationally with Flagg, Ngongba, Boozer, and top-25 guard Nikolas Khamenia – into stratospheric territory. Analysts are now projecting the Blue Devils will open next season with a starting five of Khamenia-Boozer-Proctor-Flagg-Williams that features four future first-round picks and one likely top-5 selection (Flagg).
“Crazy thing is,” one ACC assistant told ZAGSBLOG anonymously, “that’s not even their best lineup. They can go death squad with Flagg at the five and Williams at the four. Nobody in America has two seven-footers who can shoot it, pass it, and guard one through five. It’s unfair.”
Williams is expected to sign his National Letter of Intent during the early period next week and plans to graduate high school in December before enrolling at Duke in January 2026. He will wear No. 21, the same number his mother wore at Duke two decades ago.
As the Cameron Crazies flooded Twitter with “We just stole California’s soul” memes, Scheyer released a statement that barely hid his glee:
“Cameron Williams is a generational talent with a heart bigger than his skill set, which is saying something. He chose Duke because he wants to compete for national championships and develop for the NBA at the highest level. Welcome to the Brotherhood.”
For a program that lost its last two No. 1 overall recruits (Flagg to the 2024 draft, Boozer to injury concerns), landing Williams feels like the ultimate flex. The rich just got obscene.
Somewhere in America, John Calipari refreshed his phone, sighed, and started texting the 2027 class.
Cameron Williams to Duke is official.
And college basketball just tilted a little more toward Durham.
*(Word count: 1,011)*
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