Twenty-three seconds into the game and he had already made his presence known.
After stripping the ball from EA Sports' Kenny Price, Carlos Boozer took a Jason Williams pass and sent it through the basket with a dunk that left the rim shaking.
Hello, Carlos.
After showing spurts of brilliance mixed with freshman mistakes last season, Boozer is back, one year older and eager to prove himself.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski noticed his sophomore center's improvement.
"He had a preseason," Krzyzewski said. "Last year he had a broken foot, he didn't even start practice until the second week. Especially the younger players, you need all that individual work and conditioning. He's way ahead. He's a lot better than he was last year."
A bold statement, but undoubtedly a deserved one. Boozer dominated the post, regularly abusing EA Sports' Joe Vogel on his way to scoring 22 points and recording 10 rebounds.
His inside presence was equally dominant on the defensive end. Boozer's three steals tied for the game high, and his tenacious coverage held Vogel to only eight points on just 3-for-9 shooting.
"I've got a whole year under my belt and I know what to expect from myself," said Boozer. "[My] defense had to pick up. That was one of the key things. That's how you win games-by playing defense."
While impressive, Boozer's stats don't come close to conveying his dominance on Saturday night. He played only 24 minutes, and did so without the assistance of fellow post player Shane Battier.
"I think Carlos will have better looks with Shane in," Krzyzewski said.
"Carlos played extremely well. He had to make moves; when you have Shane in there you've got to guard Shane, [meaning] the post can hardly ever be doubled. Tonight at times we didn't have a second big man; or when our second big man was in they didn't look at him like Shane. I thought Carlos' performance was excellent tonight."
To Boozer, however, Battier's absence meant more than the loss of his inside presence. The team was playing without its fiery leader, who remained on the bench with a sprained foot.
"There's no question that without Shane we're a different team," Boozer said. "With Shane not being out there we all work harder to communicate better and talk more. It was a good team effort."
Battier echoed his coach's sentiments.
"The great thing about tonight is that Carlos didn't step up because I was down, he's been stepping up all year long," the senior captain said. "He's a much improved player from last year."
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