The Duke Basketball standout freshman has received another honor, but it is the first of the collegiate career.
R.J. Barrett received just about every award possible in high school and now he’s racked up his first colligate preseason honor as well.
The freshman star out of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada was named to the Jerry West Award Watch List for the top shooting guard in the country.
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Barrett comes into Duke as the top freshman in the country ranked by ESPN and 247 Sports.
The guard will look to be at the focal point of the Duke offense as he will try to bring the sixth National Championship to Durham as well as trying to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Barrett is one of joining freshman to be named to the list Indiana’s Romeo Langford, Kansas’ Quentin Grimes, and Kentucky’s Tyler Herro.
Three of Barrett’s soon to be ACC foes were also named to the list in Notre Dame’s T.J. Gibbs, Syracuse’s Tyus Battle, and Virginia’s Kyle Guy.
The other players that have been selected to the Jerry West Award Watch List are; Auburn’s Bryce Brown, Cincinnati’s Jarron Cumberland, Davidson’s Kellan Grady, Florida’s KeVaughn Allen, Gonzaga’s Zach Norvell, Hofstra’s Justin Wright-Foreman, Kansas State’s Barry Brown, Mississippi State’s Quinndary Weatherspoon, Nebraska’s James Palmer Jr., St. John’s’ Mustapha Heron, Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver, Washington’s Jaylen Norwell, and Woffords’s Fletcher Magee.
As Barrett looks to be the next big thing in the basketball world, he becomes the next member of the Duke Basketball program who will look to bring a championship back to Duke and then go on to be a top pick in the NBA Draft.
As R.J. Barrett and the rest of the Blue Devils continue to get ready for the regular season opener on November 6 against Kentucky in the Champions Classic, we will just have to live off of clips of practice and scrimmages before the highly anticipated debut of Barrett.