When Mike Krzyzewski discussed his 2018-19 team at a preseason press conference at Cameron Indoor Stadium, he mentioned that freshman phenom RJ Barrett “always played up” to a higher level of competition. In keeping with that predilection, Rowan Alexander Barrett reclassified so he could leave the prep ranks a year early to attend Duke.
The player whose first two names mirror a pair of North Carolina counties was the nation’s top-rated prospect at one of the nation’s top-rated prep programs, Montverde Academy.
Montverde (green mountain) is no conjured-for-sports school. Founded in 1912, it accommodates more than 1200 students in grades K-12.