Incoming Duke Basketball Point Guard Lands Prestigious Award

The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Rippey, a full-fledged point guard and notably crafty playmaker, is the 11th future Duke basketball player to have received the honor. It is named after the now-late Hall of Fame high school coach Morgan Wootten, who is one of the founders of the McDonald's All American Game, and is based on a prep's performance in the community, in the classroom, and on the court.

Rippey currently stacks up at No. 10 overall, No. 1 among point guards, and No. 1 in New Jersey on the 247Sports 2026 Composite. He committed to Scheyer and the Blue Devils back in late December.

Duke Basketball's All-Time Morgan Wootten Player of the Year Recipients

Here is the list of Blue Devils who have earned the Morgan Wootten Player of the Year distinction since the award's inception in 1997:

• 1997 - Shane Battier

• 2000 - Chris Duhon

• 2005 - Josh McRoberts

• 2011 - Austin Rivers

• 2013 - Jabari Parker

• 2014 - Jahlil Okafor

• 2017 - Wendell Carter Jr.

• 2018 - RJ Barrett

• 2022 - Dereck Lively II

• 2025 - Cameron Boozer

• 2026 - Deron Rippey Jr.

As one can see above, Blue Devils have now garnered the recognition in back-to-back years three times. And Rippey joins Lively and Boozer as the third to become the Morgan Wootten Player of the Year in the Jon Scheyer era.

Deron Rippey Jr. is one of four 2026 recruits on tap to be on Scheyer & Co.'s 2026-27 Duke basketball roster. The other three include two more five-stars in St. Mary's Catholic High School (Ariz.) power forward Cameron Williams (also a McDonald's All American) and Heritage High School (Texas) small forward Bryson Howard, plus a four-star in IMG Academy (Fla.) center Maxime Meyer.

For now, the Blue Devil recruiting haul ranks No. 1 in the country, per the 247Sports 2026 Composite. If it ends up in that position, that would mark the fourth top-ranked collection heading to Durham across the five cycles that Jon Scheyer has been calling the shots.

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