Are the Kentucky Wildcats looking for God's Gift to complete the 2011 recruiting class?

He may not be the best basketball player John Calipari has ever recruited, but you can bet that God’s Gift Achiuwa would be the best name to ever dot a University of Kentucky roster.  Adam Zagoria has reported that Orlando Antigua is involved in the recruitment of the 6’8 power forward that hails from Port Harcourt, River States, Nigeria. 

Actually a lot of schools have been calling to recruit Achiuwa from Niagara, the local school to Kentucky, Cincinnati, Kansas, Tennessee and St. Johns, among others.  As of now, it appears that it would be hard pressed to pry God’s Gift from St. Johns and Steve Lavin, who has already garnered nine recruits for the 2011-2012 season..  Yes.  Nine recruits.  And people complain about John Calipari and the “high turnover”.

And yes, God’s Gift is his real name.  Turns out that his father is a minister and the name chosen was reflective of the families deep faith.  That aside, God’s Gift is working hard to make sure that he is know for more than his unusual moniker.  He is succeeding in the classroom, earning a 4.0 GPA in the Fall semester and a 3.8 in the Spring semester in his first year at Erie Community College.

But what about the basketball?

As a freshman at Erie, he averaged 13.1 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 2 blocks a game and was named to as third team All American and helped lead his team to a 27-2 record.     That’s pretty impressive for a player that really had very little introduction to formal basketball until recently.  This season, God’s Gift has really stepped it up, averaging 21.9 ppg, 13.1 rpg, and 2.8 blocks a game.  He is also hitting 60% of his FG attempts and has even hit 7 3-pointers in 16 games.  And this season is off to a 15-1 start.  And you can no argue with a 42-3 record, regardless of the competition.

And I know what you are saying … you are thinking that since this kid plays for a community college, there is now way that Kentucky is seriously recruiting him, right? Well I can’t confess to know how serious Kentucky is about him, but people close to God’s Gift think that he is the real deal and even think he could fore go Division I college and head straight to the NBA.  His high school coach Alex Nwora had this to say:

"“I think he’s one of the best power forwards in the country right now.  I’ve been in junior college for 12 years. This is my 22nd year in the U.S. Out of all the kids I’ve come across, he’s the one that has a very good chance of getting drafted….If he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’s got a good chance of getting looked at by a scout…He’s that good. The kid doesn’t stop working. Somebody could come after him to get into the draft.”"

Big praise indeed.  Whether that’s just a proud coach effusing, I don’t know, but Achiuwa appears ready to take his visits after his season ends and plans to sign late in the signing period.  Whether or not the Kentucky Wildcats will be blessed with the heavenly prize is yet to be seen. 

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