It’s common for Canadian basketball players in the U.S. to reclassify down a year because of their educational system in Canada.
Andrew Wiggins did it, and now R.J. Barrett may follow suit.
“When the EYBL season and the Canadian team competition is over I will sit down sometime in August with my dad (Rowan) and discuss the possibilities of re-classifying to the senior class,” the 6-foot-6 Barrett told ESPN. “I understand that it’s a big jump but I am open to the possibilities both academically and athletically.”
Barrett is the No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2019 and would be among the best, if not the best, in a 2018 class that also includes Marvin Bagley, Zion Williamson, Romeo Langford, Cam Reddish and Moses Brown, among others.
Barrett, out of Montverde (FL) Academy, was named MVP of the 2017 Basketball Without Borders Global Camp in February.
“It’s clear that there are a few schools in Kansas, Kentucky, Arizona, Texas, Michigan, USC, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Villanova, there have been a number of schools,” Rowan Barrett said of his son. “They key for us right now is letting him continue to focus on getting better as a player and that’s been a real focus for us. Every three months we want to be seeing marked improvement with him, as well as in the classroom, really getting ahead of his coursework. He’s hit the honor roll now and really getting ahead of that and giving himself all the options for what he wants to be able to do academically.
“We believe after this spring and summer we’ll open it up and start to look seriously at some of these schools and start to make some determinations about shortening the list and starting to make visits and doing that.”
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