By ADAM ZAGORIA
Precious Achiuwa, the 6-foot-9 Achiuwa forward from Montverde (FL) Academy, took his first official visit to Kansas on Monday night and was courtside as the Jayhawks beat Kansas State, 64-49.
Kansas is one of several schools recruiting the McDonald’s All-American, including North Carolina, UConn, St. John’s and Memphis. His only other official slated at the moment is to UNC on March 9 for the Duke game.
Turns out @PreciousAchiuwa can dunk…… pic.twitter.com/hMU7elqtfE
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) January 20, 2019
Kansas assistant Norm Roberts is recruiting Achiuwa, whose mentor, Oz Cross, was on the staff under Roberts at St. John’s.
“For a very long time, they hit me up from time-to-time,” he said at the Hoophall Classic. “We talk and I think Kansas has been there for a very long time.”
Legendary Montverde coach Kevin Boyle, who has coached more top-3 NBA Draft picks since 2011 than any coach outside of Mike Krzyzewski, has ideas on what Achiuwa needs to work on.
Like, really dunk. pic.twitter.com/zpXDHnNppD
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) January 20, 2019
“Obviously, he’s got a tremendous physique,” Boyle said. “He’s learning to play a little bit in that wing type of position where he’s getting comfortable. My biggest message to him is your ticket to trying to make it is being a great defender and a great rebounder and then keep improving your perimeter skills, which are good for his age and his size. When you talk about that [NBA] level, they’re not yet good enough for that level. Most guys aren’t.”
He added: “I think Precious has a chance to be a really, really good player but to be versatile good pro player he needs to be a stat guy that has 12 points, 8 rebounds and a steal and one of the best defenders on a good team. And getting in the gym and working on his shot, and not trying to handle the ball too much and over-handle.”
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