Memphis earns No. 1 class with recruit Achiuwa
5-star senior Valuable Achiuwa introduced his dedication to Memphis on Friday, giving coach Penny Hardaway and the Tigers the No. 1 recruiting class within the nation.
Achiuwa, who’s Memphis’ fourth dedication prior to now week, selected the Tigers over Kansas, though he additionally took an official go to to North Carolina.
A 6-foot-9 ahead from New York who attends Montverde Academy (Florida), Achiuwa is ranked No. 17 within the ESPN 100. He slots in because the No. 5 energy ahead within the nation however will probably play small ahead on the subsequent degree.
Achiuwa is a high-level athlete with lengthy arms, agile ft and good positional dimension. He has great worth on the defensive finish of the ground, the place he’s able to guarding the pick-and-roll, shifting his ft laterally on the perimeter and even serving as a secondary rim protector. On offense, Achiuwa is only in transition, the place he runs the ground extraordinarily effectively, is fast off his ft as a finisher and may play by means of contact.
He earned McDonald’s All American honors this season and was the best participant in March’s sport with 22 factors and 9 rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench. He additionally averaged 14.5 factors and eight.1 rebounds per sport for New Heights on the Beneath Armour Affiliation circuit final spring and summer time.
Hardaway now has the No. 1 class in his first full recruiting cycle as Memphis coach. Achiuwa joins a loaded group that features No. 1 general prospect James Wiseman, five-star ahead D.J. Jeffries (No. 25), ESPN 100 four-stars Rejean “Boogie” Ellis (No. 38), Lester Quinones (No. 81) and Malcolm Dandridge (No. 100), and native four-star prospect Damian Baugh.
Memphis additionally landed Little Rock graduate switch Rayjon Tucker, who was ranked No. 2 in ESPN’s switch rankings.
The Tigers at the moment are probably out of scholarships for the 2019-20 season, however that they had been within the combine for elite guard R.J. Hampton (No. 5) and five-star ahead Trendon Watford (No. 19).
ESPN recruiting analyst Adam Finkelstein contributed to this report.