God's Gift Recruitment

[Tigidal]

Updated Article... No specific mention of MU...  Putting up some gaudy numbers...

http://www.zagsblog.com/2011/01/20/st-johns-still-trying-to-land-gods-gift/

St. John's Still Trying to Land God's Gift
By Adam Zagoria on January 20, 2011, 12:50AM

St. John's coach Steve Lavin has already received nine gifts for next season.

Will God's Gift be next?

Having landed nine recruits for the 2011-12 season, including 6-foot-2 IMG Academy guard Phil Greene, who committed Sunday while on an unofficial, the Johnnies still have two scholarships to give for next season.

They are one of several schools involved with God's Gift Achiuwa, 6-foot-8 power forward from Port Harcourt, River States, Nigeria, who competes at Erie Community College in Buffalo, N.Y. His father is a minister in his home country and gave him the unusual name.

In his last three games, God's Gift has put up 25 points and 19 rebounds, 25 and 10 and 32 and 15, respectively. His team has won 10 straight games and is ranked No. 3 nationally among Division II junior colleges.

Achiuwa on Wednesday was named the Region III male co-Athlete of the Week by the league office.

"So many schools are calling," ECC coach Alex Nwora said. "He's still looking at St. John's, Cincinnati. Kentucky is calling."

Nwora said Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin and assistant Darren Savino and Kentucky assistant Orlando Antigua were involved.

"I know for sure he's really considering St. John's just to see what they have to offer academically and athletically, too," Nwora said.

"Niagara is interested. They are the local school here. You can't compare them with St. John's."

Nwora said God's Gift would take visits after the season and plans to sign in the late signing period.

"We're so busy now," he said. "We're playing three games a week. It's going to be tough for him to travel and go to school. It will take away from what we're trying to do.

"He takes his visits after the season."

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0 Comments Tweet This

[NickelDimer]

Interesting there's no MU mention.  I thought we were a top two or three player in his recruitment?

[GGGG]

Not pinning any hopes on him.

[hairy worthen]

Not pinning any hopes on him.

division 2 junior college?  Not sure you can read anything into those stats.

[esotericmindguy]

Don't get to excited over DII JUCO stats either, wasn't Manchild Matthews player of the year in that division?

[4everwarriors]

Don't fly off the handle over this dude. Consider him to be a project.

[willie warrior]

Move on--DII Juco and we are not even mentioned--forget about it.

[Jay Bee]

I'm offended by the name.  Pass.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Don't get to excited over DII JUCO stats either, wasn't Manchild Matthews player of the year in that division?

Manchild was a HS player.  I think Lott was DII juco.

[Nukem2]

Manchild was a HS player.  I think Lott was DII juco.

Lott was Div I Juco.  Mike Kinsella played Div II Juco after transferring from Rice en route to MU.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I'm sorry, but "God's Gift?" Can't the kid get a nickname?

[Tigidal]

Admittedly, D2 JUCO isn't stellar completition... But my 2 cents are that all the JUCO level talk is irrelevant, since this in an international vs domestic player.

[brewcity77]

I'd still like him in a Marquette uniform. Of course he won't average the 27/15 like he's been putting up of late at this level, but by the same token Jae Crowder isn't averaging the 19/9 that he put up at Howard. He's down to 13/6, which is still a great contribution. If God's Gift can come in and average 10/8 he'd still be a huge boost to our squad, especially if we can have him out there at the same time as Otule or Gardner. One of our drawbacks now is we never have two big men on the floor simultaneously. He'd give us that opportunity. And my guess is that with interest from St. John's and Kentucky, he'll at least be a solid contributor for 1.5-2 years, even if he's never a star.

[Stretchdeltsig]

Is God's Gift considering Marquette?  Or are we out of the picture? 

[brewcity77]

Is God's Gift considering Marquette?  Or are we out of the picture?

I'd imagine he still is. Many recruiting articles and sites won't all have the same information as far as recruits go. According to ESPN, we aren't even in on JP Tokoto, yet he's been at Marquette Madness two years running, Buzz's Barbecue, and was here for Selection Sunday. Buzz and Achiuwa reportedly have a good relationship stemming around their faith. My guess is we're still in the running.

[esotericmindguy]

Lott was Div I Juco.  Mike Kinsella played Div II Juco after transferring from Rice en route to MU.

Right, my fault. I remember there being two different levels of DI juco....Jae being in the higher and Lott in the lower.  Correct?

[leever]

Erie Community College is a long way from the Big East.  The competition is EXTREMELY weak.  These guys are generally not Div 1 prospects with academic problems to clean up.  They are just not very good basketball players.  God's Gift may be talented, but you don't have long to develop him into a contributor.

[Fullodds]

I'm sorry, but "God's Gift?" Can't the kid get a nickname?

He is considering "Tom Crean" or possibly "Josh Gasser"

[RawdogDX]

Erie Community College is a long way from the Big East.  The competition is EXTREMELY weak.  These guys are generally not Div 1 prospects with academic problems to clean up.  They are just not very good basketball players.  God's Gift may be talented, but you don't have long to develop him into a contributor.

That may be generally true but players that are being recruited by Kentucky generally are Div 1 prospects.  If he can earn an offer from them than I'll be glad to have him.

[Lennys Tap]

That may be generally true but players that are being recruited by Kentucky generally are Div 1 prospects.  If he can earn an offer from them than I'll be glad to have him.

Beating out Kentucky for a recruit might cause squirming in some quarters but I'm all for it.

[warthog-driver]

He is considering "Tom Crean" or possibly "Josh Gasser"

This is Sh1t Hot

[jfmu]

Beating out Kentucky for a recruit might cause squirming in some quarters but I'm all for it.

crowder had an offer from kentiucky....

[Dr. Blackheart]

crowder had an offer from kentiucky....

So did JFB