By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
It seems like everything Robert O. Wright III touches turns to gold.
The former Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year led Neumann-Goretti (PA) to a PCL championship and PIAA 4A state title, committed to Baylor and won Nike EYBL regular season MVP before transferring to Montverde Academy (FL) and winning an undefeated Chipotle National championship, all in a three-year span.
“Thing that drives me most is just how bad I want it,” said Wright, a five-star freshman point guard who figures to play big minutes off the bench for the Bears. “And then just love for the game. I mean, it’s all I like doing. It’s my favorite thing to do at any time of the day.”
Wright committed to Baylor before his junior season, his last at Neumann-Goretti. He spent his senior year in Florida, playing at the nation’s premier prep basketball powerhouse alongside four other 247Sports Composite five-star recruits, including No. 1 overall recruit Cooper Flagg.
“It was really special,” Wright said of the Eagles’ championship team. “We had one goal since the beginning of the season, that was to win the national championship. We never shortcut on each other, we all got on each other, we had disagreements — we all did everything with each other. … I think us being that close, it just made it way easier on the floor, just to trust each other in those big moments.”
Most of Wright’s prep career was spent under the tutelage of legendary high school coaches Carl Arrigale and Kevin Boyle, though his coaching connections run even deeper than that. Wright’s one-time 15U coach, DJ Irving, helped lead the University of Miami to its first men’s Final Four appearance after joining Miami’s staff in 2021. But the Delaware native rebuffed Irving’s recruiting efforts from down the turnpike to officially enroll at Baylor over the summer.
“Rob is somebody that [is an] extremely hard worker in the offseason and spent an enormous amount of time in the gym,” Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. “He’s gotten better defensively, on and off the ball. He’s gotten better at getting in the paint and making plays for others, and not leaving his feet or putting himself in tough positions. … In both [scrimmages and games], he’s played really well, and hopefully that’s something that continues.”
The eldest of 10 siblings, Wright spent countless hours on the blacktop with his father and brothers. Shot after shot, night after night, the streetlights faded into the background. The rhythmic pattern of dribbling drills soundtracked his childhood.
“When I was younger and growing up, first getting into basketball, it was me and two of my brothers just right under me,” Wright said. “Just us three, always working with my dad and just training all the time outside, everywhere we could get, in the gym. So, just coming up from there.”
Playing alongside projected NBA lottery picks Flagg, Asa Newell and Liam McNeeley, Wright often operated in the background at Montverde. But for the soft-spoken, self-proclaimed underdog, that’s just how he liked it.
“I think I can do good in both circles [of media attention],” Wright said. “But I think it was really easier for me [for] my first stage, first time playing on that big of a stage at the high school level. So, it was just easier to have somebody that they all had attention to, and I could just run the floor and just make sure we getting the job done. Just run the team.”
A blazing-fast athlete and dangerous three-point shooter, Wright will play a big role off the bench behind Duke transfer Jeremy Roach, a fifth-year senior who will conduct Baylor’s impressive offensive orchestra. So far, Roach has been impressed with the freshman’s fiery passion.
“I’ve seen a lot from Rob, just his competitiveness and his confidence,” Roach said. “I think that’s huge coming in as a freshman, you gotta keep that confidence. So, it’s always instilling confidence in him, whether he’s having a bad day, a good day, or whatever it is.”
Roach walked a path similar to Wright. The former five-star point guard played his high school ball three hours southwest of Philadelphia in Fairfax, Va. before joining a loaded Duke roster that featured three first-round picks. The All-ACC Third Teamer hopes he can help Wright learn from his mistakes.
“You got to keep that confidence, because as a freshman, I know I had some struggles being confident and stuff like that in some ways,” Roach said. “Just trying to lead him in the right direction, because I’ve been through it for four years, so I kind of know what’s right and what’s wrong. So I’m just trying to lead him in the right direction so he doesn’t … go down that dark place.”
Baylor’s roster lists Wright at 6-foot-1, 183 pounds: undersized for a high-major point guard with NBA aspirations. But Wright has always been an underdog. Always been overlooked. Even with a burgeoning legacy as a prep basketball star, the eighth-ranked guard in the class of 2024 has a chip on his shoulder and something to prove.
“[I] just come from a small city, small place, small state,” Wright said. “Just always having it on my back and just always being the underdog, that’s been my story for real. Just always being doubted, being overlooked because my height and stuff like that. So just proving everybody wrong every time I step on the floor. That’s really it.”
