by WILLOUGHBY, Ohio— Andy Barba has built up a myriad of relationships throughout the past year playing basketball at the International Sports Academy in Willoughby. Through those relationships, he’s built confidence in his ability on the court and on Tuesday night announced his commitment to play college basketball at Duquesne University.
COMMITTED! 🔴🔵 @DuqMBB pic.twitter.com/O8V7h7ZnPR
— Andy Barba (@andybarba5) October 28, 2020
Barba held offers from other schools such as Tulane, Texas A&M, Penn, Holy Cross and Kent State. In the end, he believed Duquesne’s program fit him the best to help ascend his game to new heights.
“The recruiting process has been like a rollercoaster,” Barba— a 6-foot-6, 210-pound guard said. “Tuesday night was the right time, it was a long thing coming. In the end, Duquesne just really seemed like the right fit for kind of a lot of reasons. It checked all the boxes for me.
“I was definitely excited to announce it and it was a really good feeling.” he continued. “It’s a relief to find the place you really loved especially with coronavirus…I felt like I’ve built a really good relationship with coach Dambrot at Duquesne.”
The relationship with Dukes head coach Keith Dambrot started back when he was still at Benedictine High School. During the offseason heading into his senior year, Barba attended open gyms at ISA, where the level of competition surpassed anything he’d been apart of.
Add in Dambrot’s coaching and the ability to play against some of the best teams in the country, the decision to leave Benedictine to attend ISA made the most sense in developing him into a high-level collegiate prospect.
“I was at Benedictine and I loved it there, but I felt like I needed a change in pace for basketball so ISA was more of a challenge because I’ve played with eight or nine Division I players,” he said. “It was a choice just to make me better at basketball.
“The level of competition there and the schedule, it’s kind of like a college-type schedule. You have school for half the day and then the rest of the day is focused on basketball.”
Throughout his time at ISA, Barba has developed relationships on and off the court that have helped him become a better player. It started with coach Dave Briski to players like Charles Bediako and Brad Colbert.
Colbert is at Lousiville now while Bediako transferred to IMG Academy (Fla.), where his top five college choices are Alabama, Michigan, Duke, Ohio State and Texas.
“They’re two of my best friends and I think they pushed me a lot,” Barba said. “Just playing with them really helped me a lot.”
What a journey it’s been. Young man put together one of the best offseasons I’ve ever seen. Has lived in the gym and all his hard work paid off. Congrats @andybarba5, you earned this. Proud of you! https://t.co/R0Yeh3wP8t
— Dave Briski (@dbrisk0) October 28, 2020
Barba averaged 14 points per game last season playing for coach Briski and has developed a consistent outside jump shot within the years. Whether it’s waking up to workout at 5:30 in the morning or getting shots up with his trainer at night, his work ethic has developed him into a knockdown shooter.
“I definitely take pride in my shooting ability the most and my ability to get a shot off against anyone,” he said. “I feel like with my height and the quickness of my release, I can come off screens and really score on or against anyone.”
“The biggest two things you have to talk about when you talk about Andy is that he’s an awesome kid and he’s a really hard worker,” Fabian Lara– the post-graduate national head coach– said. ” He shows up every day with a smile and always brings good energy. He’s just always in the gym and working hard.
“I know he put on 10-15 pounds of muscle in the offseason, his body got better and his shooting, which is his best skill, got even better. He’s just an incredibly hard worker.”
