He was not one of the main attractions in the South Gwinnett (Ga.) versus Oak Hill (Va.) match up, but Avery Jukes looked very strong playing a pivotal role around the basket for South Gwinnett as they pulled off the 82-68 upset victory. Jukes, a 6-foot-7, 210-pound combo forward and the No. 119 ranked player in the class of 2006, is hearing from a long list of schools, and it appears as if one of those schools is in front of the others.

"I'm getting a whole lot of letters," said Jukes. "I am hearing from Georgia, Georgia Tech, Florida, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, Memphis, Tennessee, Georgetown, Virginia Tech, and I only have two offers from Colorado and Butler.

"I'm wide open right now, but my parents want me to go to Georgia Tech. I don't mind that. I like Georgia Tech. I just haven't looked into any schools yet. I do want to be an engineer, so that is why my parents like Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech has a strong engineering program and strong basketball program."

Jukes also noted that Georgia Tech was recruiting him hardest of any school.

Working hard to gain weight, Jukes played strong enough yesterday to help South Gwinnett secure the big win as he scored 12 points and grabbed a number of rebounds.

Primarily a power forward for his high school team, Jukes plays more on the perimeter for his AAU team the Georgia Stars, and he sees himself playing the small forward position in college.

"In college I'll be a small forward," he said. "I can already shoot threes and the midrange jumper. I just don't get much of a chance on my high school team. I do need to improve my ball handling. On my AAU team I play a lot more on the perimeter."

Averaging 12 points and 11 rebounds on the season, Jukes main focus right now is to be a great rebounder.

"I'm concentrating more on rebounding," he said. "I used to concentrate on scoring, but I realized with Mike Mercer and Louis Williams they would do most of the scoring. Also, my coach told me that if I could average over double digit rebounds, I would get more attention from colleges."

In the classroom, Jukes has a 3.5 GPA and scored an 1140 on his first attempt at the SAT.