They called him Ron Ron. His parents gave him the nickname when he was small — his older sister De'Naya was Nay Nay, so naturally, Deron was Ron Ron. He grew up in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, the youngest of six children, with five sisters and a basketball in his hands by the time he was eight.
Basketball wasn't optional in the Rippey household. His father, Deron Rippey Sr., played at the JUCO level before East Carolina, where he competed as a Division I guard. His mother played in high school. Three of his five sisters played. De'Naya plays at Saint Peter's University in New Jersey. The family showed up to each other's games as a matter of principle. 'It's just a lot of support, you know,' Rippey said. 'My sisters come to my games. We go to my other sister's games.'
But it was his father's backstory that lit the fuse. Deron Sr. grew up in Brooklyn without many of the resources his son would eventually have — no AAU infrastructure, no national exposure circuits, no five-star rankings. He made it to college basketball on grit alone. 'What really sparked it was just my dad's backstory growing up,' Rippey said. 'Coming from Brooklyn, New York, he didn't have a lot of the resources that I have today. Just seeing his impact on my family and where he made it from what he came from, it really made me want to get into the sport.'
Deron Sr.'s method was old school. He woke his son up at 6:00 a.m. to shoot on double-rim hoops in New York City parks. Double rims punish anything less than a perfect shot — the ball clanks off if you're even slightly off. It's a Brooklyn basketball education. If you can make shots on a double rim at dawn, you can make them anywhere.
Rippey left Brooklyn for boarding school in sixth grade — The Rectory School in Pomfret, Connecticut, where he helped the basketball team go 11-3 with a championship in his final year. From there he enrolled at Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey, one of the premier prep programs in the country, coached by Joe Mantegna, now in his 27th year at the helm. Mantegna first met Rippey at Blair's middle school camps. The kid from Brooklyn would wake up at 5:00 a.m., drive to New Jersey, work out with the team at 7:00 a.m., and attend camp an hour later. Mantegna knew immediately. 'The biggest thing that attracted me was his want-to and his feel for the game,' Mantegna said. 'That came through in spite of his small stature.'
Small stature. That's been the knock. At 6-1, 175 pounds, Rippey is considerably smaller than the guards Scheyer has deployed in recent years — Tyrese Proctor was 6-5, Caleb Foster is 6-5, Cayden Boozer is 6-4. But what Rippey lacks in height he compensates for with an explosive athleticism that defies his frame. He dunks like a wing. He finishes through contact like a player four inches taller. His vertical leap is NBA-level. Mantegna, who has coached for nearly three decades, put it plainly: 'He's a very quick processor. He processes information quickly and he can stay very poised under pressure and it's been like that since he was 14 years old. People see the dunks, the great plays and the great passes but they don't see his poise and they don't see his processing speed.'
Rippey was Blair's sixth man as a freshman. He became the starting point guard as a sophomore. As a junior in 2024-25, he averaged 16.2 points, 5.3 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.2 steals per game and was named the Gatorade New Jersey Player of the Year. He led Blair to three straight Mid-Atlantic Prep League titles and a state championship, posting a triple-double in the final — 16 points, 13 assists, and 11 rebounds in an 88-75 win over The Patrick School.
On the Adidas 3SSB circuit with New Heights, he averaged 15.2 points, 5.1 assists, and 3.2 rebounds. He was a USA Basketball U16 training camp finalist. He was selected to the Nike Hoop Summit — the only player from the Northeast, boy or girl, named to either the men's or women's roster.
His senior year at Blair has been a freight train: 18.6 points per game, a 28-point explosion against #3 Newman School at the Scholar Roundball Classic (9-of-16 from the field, 6-of-11 from three), and Blair racing to another elite record.
The recruitment came down to Duke, NC State, Tennessee, Miami, and Texas. NC State had the early lead. But Scheyer turned up the heat through the fall, and when Rippey visited Durham in late October — watching a preseason exhibition win over UCF — the atmosphere sealed it. On December 30, back in his hometown of Brooklyn, Rippey announced live on CBS Sports HQ.
'The Brotherhood was the spot for me because I want to play at the highest of levels,' he said. 'I feel like Duke hasn't seen a point guard like me in terms of athleticism and being a true point guard. Being able to go there and showcase my talent will be important for my future.'
Carrying on his father's name is something Rippey thinks about. 'It means carrying on his legacy,' he said. 'What he did in his life and furthering that in my career and my life.' And when asked what he wants to be remembered for, the kid from Fort Greene didn't hesitate: 'I want to be remembered as a person out of Brooklyn, New York representing Fort Greene. Just someone who made their dreams come true and inspired others to make their dreams come true as well. I want to be known as a champion.'
He shares his father's name. He carries his father's Brooklyn grit. He wakes up early because that's what Rippeys do. And in the fall of 2026, Ron Ron from Fort Greene will be 500 miles from home, running the point for Duke.