Phenomenal basketball acorn, Duke's RJ Barrett, did not fall far from the tree

WASHINGTON — RJ Barrett, the one who always seems to have the answer, was stumped. The Duke freshman always is resourceful, especially in crunch time of a huge game, but he did not have a ready response when posed with this issue: Who is more competitive, his dad or his mom?

After a long pause, he said: “That’s tough. That is tough. I’d say my dad. I mean, my mom is crazy competitive. She always wants to beat my dad. But my dad never wants us to beat him. Ever. He doesn’t have to say too much, but I know he does not want us to win.”

So, to understand what celebrated teammate Zion Williamson called Barrett’s “killer mentality,” you have to look at the contests in any sport at the family home in Mississauga, Ontario. Deeper still, to decipher how Barrett has become a near-certain NBA lottery pick at 18 and a huge reason why Duke is in the Elite Eight on Sunday, you have to revisit Jamaica, Queens, in the 1990s.

It was there that Rowan Barrett, a then-rare talent from Canada on the St. John’s basketball team, met Kesha Duhaney of Brooklyn, a national-class sprinter for the Red Storm. They would marry and pass along their athletic genes and their intensity to Rowan Jr.

He chose to be called RJ, which was just as well because it allowed him to distinguish himself from his dad, a huge name in Canada. Rowan is the national team’s executive vice president and assistant general manager, serving alongside close friend Steve Nash, Hall of Famer and RJ’s godfather.

“Obviously, I’ve heard thousands of things about his dad and how he’s so well known in Canadian basketball,” RJ’s Duke teammate Marques Bolden said. “I haven’t really had a chance to spend a lot of time around him, but for the little time I have, I know that he was a guy who commands a lot of respect.”

Rowan was a raw talent in 1992, when he was one of the first players signed by Brian Mahoney as he succeeded Lou Carnesecca as St. John’s coach. Basketball still was not such a big deal in Barrett’s home and native land then.

Like RJ, he did make it to the Big Dance as a freshman. Unlike RJ, who made the winning basket in a squeaker over Central Florida last Sunday and had a dominant second half in a two-point win over Virginia Tech on Friday, the dad didn’t get off the bench in the NCAA Tournament. But he did make progress. In his senior year, playing alongside Felipe Lopez and Zendon Hamilton, he scored 32 points in a win over Louisville.

“I remember [hearing about] him transitioning from just being a dunker to being able to hit some threes later in his college career,” RJ said Saturday before his team prepared for Michigan State.

The elder Barrett was good enough to play a dozen years of pro ball in Europe and South America before settling back in Mississauga (also John Tavares’ birthplace). Young Barrett is Canadian through and through. He loves poutine, the French fries-and-gravy national delicacy. Sitting at ice level at the Stanley Cup champion Capitals home rink Saturday, he said he admires Alex Ovechkin (“I like his toughness”).

But Barrett also has a worldly maturity that enabled him to leave home for Montverde (Florida) Academy at 15 and graduate a year early. On his dad’s travels, RJ learned five languages and still is fluent in French.

He is really conversant in shooting, driving, passing and rebounding. He was unfazed about shooting 1-for-6 in the first half against Virginia Tech. “That’s not an off half,” Williamson said, pointing out Barrett’s seven assists in those 20 minutes. “In the second half, at one point, he single-handedly took the game over.”

Truth is, Barrett has been preparing to answer challenges like that his whole life. He tried track and soccer, but decided on basketball by age 10. He had a hoops role model across the dining room table.

“I mean, he has just been a great influence for me,” the son said. “He’s gone through this college experience. He’s been able to help me, being in my ear and giving me confidence. Just being my dad, really.”