Duke is among the final three schools RJ Barrett is considering and the No. 1 player in the class of 2018 said Friday he’ll make his decision on Nov 10.
Though Barrett wrote in his USA Today blog that he has yet to make his decision, the Blue Devils are considered a slight favorite over Kentucky and Oregon.
Duke already has two five-star commitments for the 2018 class in 6-2 guard Tre Jones and 6-8 forward Cameron Reddish.
The 6-6 Barrett plays small forward, as does Reddish. However Barrett’s playmaking ability should allow he and Reddish to co-exist nicely at Duke.
If Barrett didn’t believe it, you can be sure he would have eliminated Duke on Friday when he trimmed his list to three schools.
Michigan fell from contention after receiving a commitment from 6-7 small forward Ignas Brazdeikis, a four-star prospect who like Barrett is from Canada.
After Barrett visited Duke on Sept. 15, coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff traveled to Florida to meet in person again with Barrett on Sept. 27. Barrett attends Montverde Academy.
They’ve laid out a plan for how Barrett would fit in Duke’s offense along with Jones and Reddish. It would be a remarkable scoring unit.
ESPN’s first mock for the 2019 NBA Draft lists Barrett as the No. 1 overall pick as a shooting guard. Reddish is projected as the No. 4 prospect.
Barrett led the Nike EYBL in scoring last summer and also led the Canadian national team to the gold medal (beating the U.S. along the way) at the U19 World Championships in Egypt in July.
Kentucky’s selling point is that Barrett would step in following the expected departure of 6-7 Kevin Knox as a one-and-done to be the centerpiece of the Wildcats under John Calipari.
Calipari coached against Barrett at the World Championships in Egypt. Against Calipari’s U.S. team, Barrett had 38 points and 13 rebounds as Canada pulled the upset in the semifinals.
Duke’s roster this season features senior Grayson Allen at shooting guard. The freshmen leading the Blue Devils are point guard Trevon Duval, shooting guard Gary Trent, small forwards Marvin Bagley and Jordan Tucker and center Wendell Carter. Tucker appears to be the only one of those five who won’t take the one-and-done route and even that is far from certain.
So the roster will clearly open up to leave room for Barrett to fit in nicely with Jones and Reddish on the 2018-19 Duke team that would, as usual, be a national title contender.