City of Palms: R.J. Barrett making major play for No. 1 in 2019

FORT MYERS, Fla. – There's a major race brewing for the No. 1 spot in the class of 2019. With current No. 1 Charles Bassey and No. 2 R.J. Barrett both in attendance at the City of Palms, Barrett is making a major play to take control of the top spot.

Read on for more on Barrett and Tuesday's other standouts at the City of Palms.

MORE: Class of 2019 ranking

Make no mistake about it, 6-foot-6 wing R.J. Barrett isn't satisfied with being ranked No. 2 in the class of 2019.

Tuesday night at the City of Palms, the five-star at Montverde (Fla.) Academy went for 30 points and nine rebounds while leading his team to an intense semifinal win over Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy.

He hit jumpers, he scored on tough drives, he got to the free throw line and in a game that featured seven players currently ranked by Rivals.com, he was clearly the best one on the floor.

"It was really important to get the win," Barrett said. "They are another really good team in Florida so we just tried to make a statement.

"My dad is always getting on me after a big game with stuff to work on so I always think about that in big games."

Among those who have offered Barrett are UCLA, Oklahoma, Baylor, Utah and USC. Duke, Kansas and Kentucky have shown interest and while there are no offers reported from them, we would bet he could commit to any of those programs if he were so inclined.

Now, about the race for No. 1 in 2019, Barrett has respect for Bassey and thinks he's a great player, but in his mind he should be No. 1.

After watching him in Fort Myers, he has a pretty strong claim.

"Charles is a good player but anybody would want to be No. 1," Bassey said. "I do think I'm the No. 1 player. I can play very good offensively and defensively. I find teammates and score, that's what I think."

At the beginning of the City of Palms, not many observers had Memphis (Tenn.) East penciled into the finals. Not because it isn't a strong team, but because the road to the finals was so tough.

Tuesday night, East dispatched a loaded Elizabeth (N.J.) The Patrick School squad to advance to the finals where it will meet Montverde.

Coached by former NBA star Penny Hardaway, East is a talented and hard-playing group that would seemingly run through a wall for its head coach.

The No. 53 player in the class of 2018, shooting guard T.J. Moss led East with 17 points, two rebounds and three assists on Tuesday night and said his coach inspires he and his teammates to play.

"He could be doing anything else with his time," Moss said. "He wants to coach us. We have to play hard for him."

Of course, it doesn't hurt that the East roster is stacked with talent. In addition to Moss, East features 2019's No. 27 player Chandler Lawson (whose older brothers Dedric Lawson and K.J. Lawson were both four-star prospects and play at Memphis) and junior point guard Alex Lomax, also a member of the Rivals150.

Lawson finished with 12 points and six rebounds and listed offers from Memphis, Florida, Tennessee State, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Iowa State and Arkansas. Moss listed offers from Memphis, Arizona State, Connecticut, UMass, Iowa State, Ole Miss, UT Martin, Arkansas and TCU as those he could remember.

MORE: 2017 rankings | 2018 rankings

Voting for the McDonald's All-American game will soon begin and 2017's No. 3o player John Petty had a chance to make his case in front of a handful of voters on Tuesday. The Alabama-bound shooting guard responded with an impressive 36-point performance as his Jemison High squad came up just short of a huge comeback. Petty scored 25 of his 36 in the second half and hit five three-point shots in the fourth quarter alone.

IMG fell to rival Montverde in the semifinals but it wasn't due to lack of effort from four-star power forward Emmitt Williams, who had 22 points and 14 rebounds. The 6-foot-7 Williams makes every trip near the basket a test of manhood and he usually wins out via violent dunks or blocked shots. He has tremendous hands, rebounds, runs the floor and plays with an energy that is contagious. As a relatively undersized four-man whose skillset is developing, maybe there are some long-term upside questions but he's probably a bit under-ranked at No. 59 overall in 2018. Florida, Florida State, Miami, TCU, Memphis, Ohio State and Iowa State have all offered while Kentucky and Louisville have shown interest.

The No. 60 player in the class of 2018, shooting guard Luther Muhammad found his groove for Hudson (N.J.) Catholic on Wednesday afternoon. A strong 6-foot-4 off guard, he was working the pull-up jumper and using his strength to finish off drives and create space. He finished with 16 points and five rebounds and reminds of an old-school Big East two-guard. UConn, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, Cincinnati and St. John's are giving chase.

Finally, the NBA continues to look like a legitimate option for five-star shooting guard Hamidou Diallo. Not just because he is interested, but because he is playing like a guy that Rivals.com can see an NBA team spending a first-round draft pick on in June of 2017. As always, Diallo played above the rim during a loss to the Westtown (Pa.) School, but his jump shot and ball handling both continue to look much improved. There have been rumors all winter that Diallo could even enroll somewhere for the spring semester. On Tuesday, reports started to filter out that he could visit Connecticut – coach Kevin Ollie plus two assistants were on hand to see him – this weekend but Diallo had no comment. Indiana head coach Tom Crean and assistants from Kansas and Syracuse also watched.