GREENVILLE, S.C. – It’s not that Darius Acuff is shutting down his recruitment, it’s just that his focus over the next couple of weeks will be laser-focused on one thing: Chipotle Nationals.
“I’m putting everything into making Chipotle,” Acuff said. “That’s it. We don’t want to be the only team not to make it, so we’re going hard on that one.”
The IMG Academy point guard leads the Nike EYBL Scholastic in scoring this season, averaging 22.2 points a game.
For context the EYBL Scholastic is home to nine teams ranked in the ESPN 25 high school basketball rankings, featuring teams like Montverde Academy (Cooper Flagg, Liam McNeeley, Derik Queen, Asa Newell), Long Island Lutheran (V.J. Edgecombe) and La Lumiere (Jerry Easter, Jalen Harralson, Darius Adams).
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“It’s not something that I set out to do, it’s just my role on this team,” Acuff said of leading the league in scoring. “I’m just big on winning. I’m not worried about anything but that. If we get the win, I’m always gonna be happy.”
So far so good this week at the Pete Hollis Invitational, Acuff scored 17 points and dished out nine assists to lead the No. 12 Ascenders past Orangeville 67-53 on Thursday night.
On Saturday he’ll face off against No. 6 La Lumiere and its big three of Easter, Adams and Harralson.
“That’s gonna be a big one for all of us,” Acuff said. “We’re all locked in and focusing on that.”
As for his recruitment, Acuff has kept the same focus on taking his time.
“Just the way my family is, my dad and mom always taught me to take my time with everything,” Acuff said. “I just want to take my time because I want to pick the right school in the end.”
Acuff said Texas, Kentucky and Kansas, among many others, were all still applying the full-court recruitment press.
“They call me every day and they talk to me about the NBA and different things like that,” said Acuff, who will run with The Family this spring in the Nike EYBL. “It’s a lot to think through with recruitment, so I’m not worried about cutting anything down or anything like that. Right now, it’s all about trying to get these wins and then I’ll figure everything else out after.”
