At Greensboro Day School, the Bengals went 92-9 over Ross Perkins's four years and won state championships in two of them — his sophomore season and his senior season. He was a three-year letterwinner, two-time all-conference, the school's Athlete of the Year in 2002, and a Little Four All-Tournament selection as a junior. He averaged 8.4 points and 7.6 rebounds as a senior, but the statistic in his prep bio that lingers is buried near the end: 20 charges drawn in 2001-02. It's the line from a young player's high school career that suggests, more than scoring averages do, the kind of player Mike Krzyzewski's program would value — someone who would willingly stand in front of a moving offensive player and absorb the contact for a possession. He was also a lacrosse standout. He was coached at GDS by Freddy Johnson, the program's legendary, decades-long head coach.
The full name on his birth certificate is Matthew Ross Perkins. He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, into one of the most thoroughly Duke-affiliated families in the state. His father, Robbie Perkins, graduated from Duke in 1976 (also competing in track and field) and built a career as one of the Triad's most prominent commercial real estate brokers, eventually serving sixteen years on the Greensboro City Council and as Mayor of Greensboro from 2011 to 2013. His mother, Susan Starr, graduated from Duke in 1978 and became a third-grade teacher. His older brother Max Perkins graduated from Duke in 2004 and had served as a basketball manager for the program. Ross also has another brother and four sisters. Beyond his immediate family, his grandfather Dick Maxwell ('55), grandmother Joe Gelzer ('57), and aunts Sandy Smith ('81), Catherine Maxwell ('82), and Debbie Perkins had all attended Duke. The list reads like a small alumni directory.
He chose Duke. He did not arrive in Durham as a recruited player. He arrived as a student, and immediately set about earning his way onto the program from the ground level. He spent his freshman and sophomore years (2002-03 and 2003-04) as a student manager for Krzyzewski's basketball program — handing out towels, rebounding for shooters, traveling with the team, watching closely the Class of 2002 group he had once played against in summer-circuit gyms. By spring 2004, after two years inside the program in a non-playing capacity, the staff invited him to join the team as a walk-on for the 2004-05 season. He was 6'4", 200 pounds, and would wear No. 40. He would also serve, that same year, as Student Justice in the Duke Student Government.