2. RJ Barrett – Duke
The number one player in the 2018 recruiting class has lived up to the early hype placed on him. Barrett chose Duke from a slew of high major schools. The Montverde Academy product has further validated the reasons why he was the number one overall recruit. The freshman is only going to be in College for one year, but when paired with the number one player in this countdown make up one of the best duos in all of College basketball this year.
Barrett is a tremendous scorer. He is flashy a great shooter and can score points extremely fast. The first thing you notice about the superstar freshman is the calmness he has about him when he plays. He has a tremendous basketball IQ and always seems to make the right play. The calmness exuded by the freshman is something that many older players still do not show. Barrett plays like a player much older than he is.
Barrett as mentioned before is a pure scorer of the basketball. He has a nice shooting stroke and is big enough and fast enough to get around virtually any defender. His overall size mixed with his athleticism is the thing catching the ire of virtually everyone. Barrett has shown he can thrive in the position less system that Duke runs. Barrett can defend any position on the court without losing any of his offensive effectiveness.
Many pundits would like to see the freshman become more efficient, as he takes a lot of shots. Coach K does not seem to have a problem with the shots that Barret takes, as Duke runs the offense through the freshman and he does avoid the bad shots that some Freshman seem to take. Barrett would be a lock for this award if it were not for his teammate.