RJ Barrett or Zion Williamson? Here’s your favorite Duke basketball recruiting target.
Many of the top basketball recruits in the Class of 2018 have shown interest in Duke — and the Blue Devils are bound to get one or two of them.
The nation’s No. 1 overall recruit, R.J. Barrett, visited Duke this past weekend. And the No. 2 recruit, Zion Williamson, recently announced he’ll visit the Blue Devils in October.
Barrett, a 6-6, 180-pound, five-star small forward who’s from Canada but plays at Montverde Academy in Florida, reclassified from the Class of 2019 to 2018 earlier this summer. In July, he averaged 21.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists a game for Canada at the FIBU U19 World Cup.
His top five schools include Duke, Kentucky, Michigan, Oregon and Arizona, all of which he will visit.
Williamson, a 6-7, 235 pound, five-star small forward, averaged 36.8 points per game for Spartanburg Day School in Spartanburg, S.C. last season. His top schools include Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, South Carolina, Arizona and Clemson.
Barrett and Williamson play the same position, but it doesn’t mean they can’t play together in college. Duke has two five-star recruits — Cam Reddish (shooting guard) and Tre Jones (point guard) — from the Class of 2018 who have already committed.
Between Barrett and Williamson, Barrett has a better overall game, but Williamson’s popularity is higher.
So we asked you to tell us who you’d choose — Barrett or Williamson. Here’s what you said.
Neither one. They will not stay and only have pro sports on their radar.
— Curt Robinson (@CommonSenseCurt) September 13, 2017
@RjBarrett6 Not close.
— Patrick Clark (@PatrickClark82) September 14, 2017
Zion
— Daniel L. (@dll07) September 14, 2017
Zion, but mostly because I think he'll be the most electric player in the country next year.
— Duke Opinions (@DukeOpinions) September 13, 2017
RJ is a monster. Zion only dunks. Dunking doesn't win chips.
— Carron J. Phillips (@carronJphillips) September 13, 2017
Rj has a wayyy more all around game while zion relies too much on his athleticism (still a great talent tho)
— Niqq25 (@NBumaya) September 14, 2017
Worst tweet ever. #goheels
— Joel Tesch Studio (@joeltesch) September 14, 2017
RJ all day!!!
— Roshan (@RoshanWirasinha) September 14, 2017
Kentucky getting both https://t.co/K3pKb0ogTS
— Ricky Dunnavan (@BRGD314) September 14, 2017
Rj hands down
— Justin Grubl (@j_mercy1) September 13, 2017
RJ Barrett and it's not close https://t.co/urPLftnYCC
— First Place Bills (@CoachSarow0220) September 13, 2017
Yeah man no disrespect to Zion but just think Barrett's game is way more suitable for Duke especially alongside Reddish
— Ryan Moore (@ryan_a_moore) September 13, 2017
I've seen RJ play live... he's special https://t.co/YCpcYCLzrL
— Best NBA Matchups (@NBABestMatchups) September 13, 2017
RJ Barrett. That's not even remotely close https://t.co/16R70canWt
— Tony Jones (@tribjazz) September 13, 2017
Jonathan M. Alexander: 919-829-4822, @jonmalexander
This story was originally published September 18, 2017 at 12:04 PM with the headline "RJ Barrett or Zion Williamson? Here’s your favorite Duke basketball recruiting target.."