Today, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced the winner of the 2018 Naismith High School Boys' Player of the Year and it was our Eagle R.J. Barrett!
Earlier this week, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced that Montverde Academy Head Coach Kevin Boyle was named the 2018 Naismith High School Coach of the Year award winner. This marks the third time ever that the Player of the Year and Coach of the Year have come from the same school, Montverde Academy!
Barrett is also ranked the No. 1 player in boys' high school basketball and is the second player from Montverde Academy to win the Player of the Year title in the past four seasons (Ben Simmons, 2015).  Our Eagles are 32-0 and they plan to continue their streak at the High School Basketball National Tournament in New York City later this month. Barrett will also be the third high school award winner to go on to play collegiately at Duke University, tying UCLA and Georgia Tech, following Shane Battier (Detroit Country Day, Beverly Hills, Michigan) in 1997 and Austin Rivers (Winter Park High School, Orlando, Florida) in 2011.
"It is an honor to receive the Naismith Player of the Year award," said Barrett. "I want to thank God, my family, friends, teammates, coaches and the Montverde community, as well as all the people who voted for me."
Congratulations to both Boyle and Barrett on winning these prestigious awards!
Other info about the Naismith award and organization.
Founded during the 1956-57 season, the Atlanta Tipoff Club is committed to promoting the game of basketball and recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of those who make the game so exciting. The Atlanta Tipoff Club administers the Naismith Awards, which have become the most prestigious national honors in all of college basketball. Named in honor of Dr. James Naismith, inventor of the game of basketball, the Naismith Trophy recognizes the top Men's and Women's College Basketball Players of the Year. Other Naismith Awards are presented to the Men's and Women's College Basketball Coaches of the Year, Boys' and Girls' High School Basketball Players and Coaches of the Year, Basketball Officials and Outstanding Contributors to the game. Celebrating its 50th year by honoring past winners, the Citizen Naismith Trophy was first presented to UCLA's Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in 1969. Old Dominion's Anne Donovan won the inaugural Women's Citizen Naismith Trophy in 1983.
