Stepinac stars Adonis & Darius Ratliff are closing in on 7-feet and piling up D-1 offers: ‘Both have a chance to be pros’
By ADAM ZAGORIA
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The gym walls at Archbishop Stepinac High School are decorated with the jerseys of all the Division 1 and NBA players who have come through the school over the years.
In recent years, AJ Griffin (Duke/Atlanta Hawks), RJ Davis (North Carolina) and Boogie Fland (Arkansas) have drawn a parade of high-major coaches to coach Pat Massaroni’s team.
Now a new set of stars is emerging and drawing high-major attention. Twins Adonis and Darius Ratliff –– the sons of 16-year NBA veteran Theo Ratliff — are attracting coaches from many of the top programs in the nation and piling up Division 1 offers in the process.
Adonis holds offers from UCF, Stanford, Wake Forest, Rutgers and Old Dominion, among others. Darius has offers from UCF, Wake Forest, Cal, Stanford and Rutgers, among others.
“Both have a chance to be pros,” one high-major assistant said.
Two years ago, both brothers were about 6-foot-3. But after growth spurts, Adonis is the “shorter” of the Class of 2026 twins at 6-foot-10 (at left in the photo above), compared to his 6-11 brother Darius. Theo Ratliff, who averaged 7.2 points and 5.7 rebounds in his career, sat courtside for Monday’s open gym and offered constant advice and encouragement. He said both of his 17-year-old sons could eventually zoom past 7-feet tall.
“The doctor said their growth plates are open,” Theo said.
Adonis was especially impressed that Duke assistant Emmanuel Dildy was in the gym Monday.
“Duke is crazy,” he said. “Think of that freshman year playing on freshman and then three years later having Duke come in is kind of a blessing. I have no words, it’s kind of crazy because I’ve always wanted to go to Duke. It’s been my dream school since I’ve been a kid. Definitely going to see the campus, talk to the coaches, see how I feel and go from there.”
Duke, of course, just landed its own set of twins in Cameron and Cayden Boozer, and head coach Jon Scheyer helped recruit Griffin out of Stepinac a few years ago.
Darius said he was more of a John Calipari guy growing up and feels an affinity for Kentucky (Calipari’s former program) and Arkansas (his new one).
“I always loved Coach Cal, so I would say Arkansas and Kentucky [are offers he’d like to have],” Darius said. “Definitely Duke, too.”
Duke is here at @step_basketball for Darius and Adonis Ratliff, the sons of former NBA big man Theo Ratliff
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) October 21, 2024
Darius is in the green shirt, Adonis in the pink sneakers
The twins are piling up offers from Xavier, Rutgers, Penn State, Stanford, Wake Forest and more pic.twitter.com/HwWDw97UOO
On the court, the twins have different skillsets.
Adonis is more of a point forward who can shoot the 3-ball and defend on the perimeter.
During one stretch on Monday, Theo, wearing an all-black sweatsuit, told Adonis, “Go hard, you gotta attack. Y’all have a squad now. You ain’t got no excuses.”
Minutes later, Adonis, wearing pink sneakers, black shorts and a blackshirt, effortlessly drained a 3 pointer.”
Then he blocked his brother’s baseline jumper.
Then he drained another 3.
“You definitely can’t back up off him,” Theo said of Adonis’s shooting range.
Darius is more of an inside player who is comfortable in the paint.
“I’ve gotten a lot of Karl-Anthony Towns [comparisons], mostly because he’s big, he can shoot, he can drive and pass,” Darius said. “Block shots, athletic.”
Asked to compare himself to Adonis, Darius said, “He’s more like downhill. He can dribble, shoot, he can do a lot. Me, I’m a big, I’m going to get inside, I’m going to rebound. He’s more of a three, I’m more of a four-five.”
Massaroni said Adonis is more of a point forward who “continues to improve his play-making, his ability to score the ball and obviously at 6-9 defend at a really high level.”
As for Darius, the coach said, “Darius has a more of a back-to-the basket inside approach but also shoots the ball at a really high level for his size. Puts it on the floor and he continues to be a rim protector, shot-blocker. In my opinion, he’s a top-3 power forward/center in that ’26 class.”
Off the court, the twins enjoy NBA 2K but often play together.
But who’s better?
“I’m better at everything,” Darius said dryly.
Theo joked that the twins came “out of the womb” with a basketball in their hands even though the boys were born toward the end of Theo’s NBA career.
“From a young age, he always pushed us to be the best and now I see that it’s showing,” Darius said of his father. “When I was younger, I was a little hard-headed. Now listening to him, I see my game expanding.”
Darius said he first beat his father in one-on-one when Darius was in eighth grade.
Do they still play against one another?
“He don’t play no more,” Darius said dryly.
“I hung my basketball shoes up,” Theo said. “I bang them around a little bit here and there.”
Theo opted to moved the kids from Atlanta — where their shooting coach from the age of 9 was Chuck “The Rifleman” Person — to the New York area for high school. He said he chose Stepinac because he knew they would be facing stiff competition every day in practice.
“They’re playing more competition in practice than they would in a regular game in their league,” Theo said.
Stepinac also plays a national schedule.
Last year, Stepinac faced projected No. 1 NBA Draft pick Cooper Flagg and Montverde (FL) Academy, an invaluable experience for players like the Ratliffs.
“He could’ve easily been the No. 1 pick last year,” Theo said of Flagg. “If he was able to come out, he would’ve been the No. 1 pick because he just has that type of attitude and motor to the game. Once you have that mentality and you have the skill level, s–t, you can’t be touched.
“It’s all about the motor. That’s why I continue to try to get them to develop their motor skills.”
As for their recruitment, Theo says, “It’s all a process. Like I tell them, it’s great to have all the schools but at the end of the day you can only go to one.”
Theo has watched as the NBA has moved toward a concentration on mobile, athletic 7-footers like Towns, Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Kristaps Porzingis and others.
Those players are at the peak of the game, and the Ratliff twins are still evolving as players. But they certainly have the potential to do big things in the sport.
And they’re only getting bigger and better every day.
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