R.J. Barrett is only a sophomore at Montverde (FL) Academy, but he may be the best overall player in high school basketball at the moment.
Montverde coach Kevin Boyle, who has coached lottery picks Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, Kyrie Irving and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, believes Barrett is No. 1 in the nation.
“Barrett is the best player in high school basketball right now,” Boyle told David Dorsey of News-Press.com after the 6-foot-7 Barrett went for 15 points and 5 rebounds to lead Montverde past Memphis (TN) East, 63-54, to win the City of Palms title on Wednesday night. “I think he’s the best, period. He can do everything.”
That’s pretty strong praise considering City of Palms featured a Who’s Who of elite high school talent, including Hamidou Diallo, Trevon Duval, Kevin Knox, Mohamed Bamba and DeAndre Ayton, among others.
But Barrett certainly stood out at City of Palms, going for 30 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists as Montverde beat Duval and IMG Academy (FL) in the semifinals.
A Canadian who runs with the UPlay Canada AAU program and won MVP honors at the Jordan Brand International Game in April, Barrett trained last summer with the Canadian Senior National Team. He also plays one-on-one games with fellow Canadian Andrew Wiggins, a former No. 1 overall draft pick.
“He’s R.J. Barrett, he’s not Andrew Wiggins,” Roy Rana, the Canadian youth National team coach, told me in April. “It’s like Kevin Pangos wasn’t Steve Nash. We often make those mistakes about trying to compare players at a young age. I think we’re doing a better job in Canada just letting them breathe and be who they are.”
Barrett is the son of Rowan Barrett, the Executive Vice President and Assistant General Manager of Canada Basketball
Rowan handles R.J.’s recruitment.
“There’s definitely schools showing interest,” Rowan said by phone on Thursday. “Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Arizona, Indiana, Oregon, Texas, Michigan, Villanova, Stanford, Baylor, California, Florida State, Virginia. They’ve all really shown some interest. These are the ones that have shown some interest.”
R.J. isn’t focused too heavily on recruiting right now, but by the spring or summer that could change.
“Once the season’s over, we’ll start to evaluate what’s going on and whether we want to start taking some unofficial visits,” Rowan said. “We’re so far away.”
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