A new name wears the crown of the No. 1 basketball recruit in the world after Marvin Bagley III’s decision to commit to Duke and reclassify to play this upcoming season. R.J. Barrett, a 6’7 Canadian guard, is now verging on the consensus choice as the best player in high school basketball.
R.J. Barrett, college basketball’s new No. 1 recruit, announces list of 5 finalists
Duke and Kentucky both made the cut for phenom R.J. Barrett. Who else is on the list?
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Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
On Wednesday night, Barrett announced his list of five finalists. He will choose between Duke, Kentucky, Oregon, Michigan, and Arizona.
While players like Zion Williamson and LaMelo Ball might have bigger followings, there’s no doubt Barrett is the most accomplished high school player alive. He recently led Canada to the gold medal at the FIBA U19 World Cup, which included a 38-point performance in an upset win over John Calipari’s U.S. team in the semifinals. Barrett was named MVP of the event.
Barrett was also MVP at Basketball Without Borders during NBA All-Star Weekend in February.
Like Bagley, Barrett recently reclassified himself, jumping from the junior class of 2019 to the senior class of 2018. He is ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the class by Rivals and checks in at No. 2 behind Williamson in ESPN’s rankings.
Barrett led Nike’s EYBL circuit in scoring this season at 28 points per game. He’ll play one more season for Florida’s Montverde Academy, the same school that produced Ben Simmons and D’Angelo Russell.
Read our profile on Barrett from this spring: R.J. Barrett is the high school star who carries Canadian basketball on his shoulders.
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