Barrett brings Blue Devils home to visit
TORONTO Duke’s men’s basketball team hadn’t travelled on an international pre-season tour in ages. It’s fitting that when they finally did, they visited R.J. Barrett’s backyard.
“I think the arena’s within walking distance of where he lives,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
A month after Barrett departed for his new campus in Durham, N.C., the 18-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., has arrived home with his new teammates in tow. Duke will play a three-game exhibition series, facing the Ryerson Rams on Wednesday and the University of Toronto on Friday in a pair of sold-out games at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga.
They ’ll travel to Montreal to play Mcgill on Sunday to wrap up the tour. And if Barrett has anything to do with the itinerary?
“I think we have to see the CN Tower,” he said. “I also want them to try the poutine. I like poutine, personally, so I want them to try it.”
Barrett is the centrepiece of the NCAA’S consensus No. 1 recruiting class, along with freshmen teammates Zion Williamson and Cameron Reddish.
Krzyzewski had Barrett on his radar for years, but when the Canadian forward reclassified last summer, announcing he planned to come out of high school a year early, Krzyzewski and staff pushed the button on Project Recruit Barrett.
“You went from the right lane to the express lane right away in recruiting him,” Krzyzewski said Monday. “All of a sudden now, R.J. is part of their class, and then how does that fit in? And then it ended up fitting in real well. But we had to ramp it up then. But we’ve known about (Barrett), I can’t say exactly, but a long time. He’s just been that good.”
NCAA rules dictate teams can take an international trip once every four years. It’s been a long time since Krzyzewski could commit to a summer trip because of his 11 years at the helm of the U.S. national men’s team. Krzyzewski had knee replacement surgery last summer, scuttling a planned trip to the Dominican Republic.
The 71-year-old coach had kind words for Toronto and Canada. He can’t recall his first trip to Toronto, but said it was a speaking engagement at “one of the beautiful museums here.”
“I didn’t realize what a great city Toronto was, and also multicultural, like a world city,” he said.
“And not just a great Canadian city, but a world city that really opens its arms to all different types of cultures.”
Krzyzewski said he knows little about the three U Sport teams the Blue Devils will face beyond the coaches. He referenced Ryerson coach Roy Rana’s role as head coach of both Canada’s Barrett-led team that won gold at the U-19 Cup, and Hoop Summit squads.
“Basketball in Canada is terrific. There are so many U.S. colleges that benefit right now from Canadian basketball players playing, and it’s just going to get more and more, with Steve Nash in charge, Jay (Triano) as the national team coach, and the organization that they have,” Krzyzewski said.