By the time he gets to Duke next summer, R.J. Barrett will have already won championships in South Carolina, Hawaii, China and Egypt.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, owner of more than 1,000 wins and five NCAA championships, may not even be able to say that — although Coach K has led Team USA to gold medals in the Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Barrett’s latest title with Montverde (FL) Academy came Saturday at the Beach Ball Classic, where Montverde (FL) Academy defeated Long Island Lutheran, 70-44, behind Barrett’s 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists en route to MVP honors. LuHi’s Donatas Kupsas finished with 16 points in the loss.
“I kind of struggled the first two games, so I just wanted to stay aggressive and come out and do the things my team needed me to do to win,” he told MyrtleBeachonline.com. “We work so hard for everything we get. So to be able to take (the Beach Ball Classic trophy) back home, it really means a lot.”
The 6-foot-6 Duke signee previously led Montverde to the Iolani Prep Classic championship earlier this month. He also led Montverde to a championship at an event in China this season that included two other American teams and various Chinese high schools and club teams.
Last summer, Barrett led Canada to a gold medal at the FIBA U19 World Championship where the Canadians beat a John Calipari-coached American team in the semis. He was named MVP of that event as well.
Barrett is projected as the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, per ESPN and various outlets.
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Congrats to @MVABasketball on winning the 2017 @iolaniclassic. pic.twitter.com/ltGREFjKGT — FloHoops (@FloHoops) December 21, 2017
