NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Ranking the last 10 No. 1 overall prospects

4. RJ Barrett – 2018

There may be recent bias at play, but Barrett has been a fantastic forward prospect who shined this past season at Duke. These Blue Devils were an extremely talented and highly revered team, though the season did end in disappointment. This was the national favorite, but they were ousted in the Elite Eight by Michigan State. However, the numbers that Barrett and a few other players were putting up were not something to disregard.

Barrett averaged 22.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg, and 4.3 apg this past year with Duke. He was outshined by Zion Williamson on his own team, while Cam Reddish helped them pose a formidable top three players. Prospects like Nassir Little and Romeo Langford didn’t develop into title contenders, while others had disappointing or injury-riddled seasons.

Don’t get me wrong, Barrett was a 1st team All-American and an incredible talented prospect. However, Zion Williamson was the best NCAA Basketball player from the 2018 class. Regardless, these are two future lottery picks that are going to excel on the NBA stage. They helped build an incredible season for the Blue Devils, though a loss prior to the Final Four really dulls the success of the year. Nevertheless, Barrett had a fantastic season and his success cannot be understated; we’ll just have to see how it holds up, since Duke has had a lot of talented players come and go through those doors.