R.J. Barrett has committed to Duke.
On Friday afternoon, the #1 player in the 2018 recruiting class, R.J. Barrett, gave his college commitment to head coach Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke Blue Devils.
Barrett picked Duke over Kentucky and late-riser Oregon.
This commitment means that for the third consecutive year, Duke has landed the #1 player in that year’s recruiting class. Barrett follows in the footsteps of 2017 #1 recruit Marvin Bagley and 2016 #1 recruit Harry Giles.
Taking it one step further, much like in 2016 with Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum, Duke has secured commitments from the #1 and #3 players in the 2018 class as Barrett joins fellow 5-star wing, and #3 overall prospect, Cam Reddish, in Duke’s 2018 class.
This summer, the 17-year-old Barrett led his home country Canada to a gold medal in the U-19 FIBA World Cup. Barrett scored an incredible 38-points in their semi-finals game against a John Calipari coaches USA Team to propel Canada to the finals.
Barrett becomes the third member of Duke’s 2018 class, joining the aforementioned Cam Reddish (#3 overall) and point guard Tre Jones (#10 overall).
His UPlay Canada AAU coach Dwayne Washington had this to say about Barrett:
“I think he sees the floor very well. Underrated playmaker. He’s a professional scorer, does that very well, has a knack for that. Gets to the foul line at a very high rate, has some James Harden in his game in that sense. His lateral quickness is off the charts. Has an ability to get by people, gets to his spots. His jump shot is developing, very capable. Overall, he’s a winner and could lead a franchise one day.”
Here’s a link to the stream of Barrett’s announcement:
(His part begins at 1:07:30)
