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Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
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Thursday / April 25.
  • Arizona will host two big-time transfers this weekend.

    Transferring Duke sophomore big man Chase Jeter, a native of Las Vegas, will visit the Wildcats, as will transferring Pittsburgh sophomore forward Cam Johnson.

    The 6-foot-10 Jeter has already visited Cal, San Diego State and Gonzaga ahead of a UCLA visit on May 12. The 6-8 Johnson has been to Kentucky and will hit Oregon and UCLA next week.

    Johnson’s father played with Arizona coach Sean Miller at Pittsburgh.

    “It factors in a little bit because there’s familiarity and a level of trust that my dad has with him and that I have with him,” Johnson told Scout.com. “We know him and his family well. I think it mostly comes down to trust factor and familiarity and comfort having him as a coach.

    After committing on Monday, Jordan Walker has signed a National Letter of Intent with Seton Hall.

    Walker, a 6-foot point guard, is the latest in a run of Patrick School/St. Patrick High School recruits to attend Seton Hall, including current Pirates star center Angel Delgado (Bajos De Haina, Dominican Republic), Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Famers Shaheen Holloway and Samuel Dalembert as well as Grant Billmeier, Jeff Robinson and Derrick Gordon.

    Walker also now becomes the sixth Seton Hall student-athlete on the 2017-18 roster to hail from either New Jersey or New York, as coach Kevin Willard continues to hone in on the region’s top talent to keep them home. Seton Hall has 46 wins and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances over the last two seasons, and since 2014 alone, Seton Hall recruits from the Metro New York area have accumulated four All-BIG EAST and eight All-Met selections.

    Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley continues to build his roster through transfers.

    The Sun Devils on Wednesday added transferring Kansas sophomore forward Carlton Bragg Jr. That follow their addition of San Diego State transfer Zylan Cheatham. Both players will sit the 2017-18 season per NCAA regulations.

    “I have had a good relationship with [assistant] Anthony Coleman off the court,” Bragg said. “He’s been around the adidas Uprising and the AAU circuit and we just built a good relationship. When I found out I was transferring, I reached out to his program and I asked him for some advice and we just took it from there.”

    Bragg is not without baggage.

    Texas on Friday announced the signing of transferring Mount St. Mary’s guard Elijah Long, which was first reported Wednesday by ZAGSBLOG.

    The 6-foot guard from Mississauga, Ontario averaged 15.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists last season at Mount St. Mary’s. He will sit out the 2017-18 season per NCAA transfer regulations and will then have two years of eligibility remaining.

    “We’re very excited to welcome Elijah to our program,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “He brings winning experience, shot-making ability and has a high basketball IQ. Elijah has a tremendous work ethic and is an extreme competitor.

    Jamion Christian (Mount St. Mary’s head coach) and his staff deserve a great deal of credit for their role in Elijah’s development over the last two seasons,” Smart continued. “Elijah was extremely under-recruited coming out of high school and developed into a first-team all-conference player in their league who is a really good all-around guard.”

    Like his older brother, God’sgift Achiuwa, Precious Achiuwa came to the United States from Nigeria for a better life.

    And like his brother, his path to that life comes by way of basketball.

    While Gift was a solid forward at St. John’s for one season, his younger brother is now being recruited at the highest levels.

    Ohio State and Kansas are the latest schools to offer the 6-foot-9, 206-pound wing from St. Benedict’s Prep and the New Heights AAU program who is ranked the No. 10 small forward in 2019 by 247Sports.com.

    “Everything is going fine,” Achiuwa said Tuesday by phone. “Right now I’m just worrying about getting better. I’m not really focused on recruiting and stuff. I’m just trying to get better. I’m trying to work on my jump shot and my dribbling.”.

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