Another elite recruiting class, another national player of the year for Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Top recruit and commit R.J. Barrett was named Gatorade National Player of the Year, the third Blue Devil recruit to earn the distinction since 2013, joining Jayson Tatum and Jabari Parker. Tatum presented the award to Barrett, the third straight No. 1 overall recruit to come to Durham, following Harry Giles and Marvin Bagley III.
Barrett has averaged 28.7 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, two blocks and 1.5 steals a game for Florida’s Monteverde Academy, which enters the GEICO High School Basketball Nationals as the No. 1 team in the nation. He also won the Naismith High School Player of the Year award last week.
Tatum, who is enjoying a breakout rookie season with the Boston Celtics, thinks that Barrett, a small forward, is an even better athlete than himself.
“From a standpoint of a guy that is 6-foot-7, 8, 9, doing a lot of things well on the court, yeah, [we’re similar],” Tatum said. “But he’s more athletic than I was at that age, he’s probably stronger than me. My advantage was that I’m a little taller, and my ability to score the ball was my strong suit.... He’s a great player and a great athlete. He’s a lot taller than I thought he was. He definitely has a bright future.”
Barrett is part of a historic recruiting class that contains the nation’s top three recruits, with No. 2 Zion Williamson and No. 3 Cam Reddish—and No. 12 Tre Jones, to boot. Those four blue-chip recruits have become close, messaging each other in group Snapchat conversations every day. And they don’t just talk basketball, Barrett says, but a wide variety of things. Thursday, for instance, they unsuccessfully tried to come up with a nickname for themselves while watching Duke’s NCAA tournament win against Iona.
A 6-foot-6, 272 pound power forward, Williamson has become a viral sensation for his vicious dunks. Barrett doesn’t see him as having a true position.
“He’s a basketball player,” Barrett said. “He’s very dominant, especially around the rim. We’ll see how it plays out.”
As for the other top forward, Reddish more closely follows Barrett’s build at 6-foot-7 and 203 pounds—just one inch and one pound more than Barrett. The fourth member of the group, Jones, hopes to become the next great floor general for Duke.
When asked about how the group would integrate together on the floor, Barrett said it would be difficult, but thinks that they can coalesce well.
“It’s going to be hard,” Barrett said. “The way our games are set up, we’re going to play well together and feed off each other.”
Tatum—who played his lone season for the Blue Devils in 2016-17—thinks Krzyzewski’s program prepares potential one-and-done players like Barrett well for the NBA because while there is a structure in place, he also gives players the freedom to be themselves.
“It really prepared me well,” Tatum said. “They’ve had a bunch of guys before me, so they know what one-and-done looks like. That’s a reason you go to Duke if your dream is to go to the NBA after one year. Coach K has had a bunch of pros, and he knows what he’s doing.”
As for Bagley, a projected lottery pick and current Duke star, Tatum thinks he will be picked first or second in this year’s draft, vying with Arizona’s Deandre Ayton.
“He’s having a great year. He won both ACC Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year,” Tatum said. “The only other player I remember who did that was Jahlil [Okafor]. He’s a great player.”
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Managing Editor 2018-19, 2019-2020 Features & Investigations Editor
A member of the class of 2020 hailing from San Mateo, Calif., Ben is The Chronicle's Towerview Editor and Investigations Editor. Outside of the Chronicle, he is a public policy major working towards a journalism certificate, has interned at the Tampa Bay Times and NBC News and frequents Pitchforks.