Top-10 recruit Acuff picks Calipari’s Razorbacks

• Jeff Borzello Close Jeff Borzello ESPN Staff Writer Basketball recruiting insider. Signed up with ESPN in 2014. Graduate of University of Delaware.Paul Biancardi Close Paul Biancardi Basketball Recruiting National Recruiting Director for ESPN.com 18 years of coaching experience at Division I

  level Previous Horizon League coach of the year at Wright State Jul 26, 2024, 05:37 PM

• ET Top-10 senior Darius Acuff, one of the elite guards in high
• school basketball, announced his commitment to John Calipari

and Arkansas on Friday– ending up being the first luxury possibility off the board in the 2025 class.Acuff picked the Razorbacks over Kansas, with Michigan also on his last list of three. The Jayhawks were viewed to be the favorite back in the spring, with Acuff taking a check out

to Lawrence in late April. But Calipari made him a top priority over the previous a number of weeks and eventually won out.”We have a great relationship. We have been tight for a year and half,” Acuff said of Calipari. “Maturing I understood what type of guard coach he was. He developed the best relationship with me.

He keeps it genuine. It resembles he is already your coach when you speak with him. He has been there from the start. That was a separator. History promotes itself. All the guards he has put in the league. I want to become part of that.”Editor’s Picks 2 Related Acuff took a see to Arkansas ‘campus in May.” I invested a lot of time on my go to with Coach Cal, Coach Chin [Coleman] and the personnel,” he stated.” I saw how hard he coached

Rob Dillingham at Kentucky. He pushes his guys and motivates them too.

So, when they get in the game, they understand what to do. “”When he initially used me last year, our first discussion stuck in my mind. [Calipari said,] I knew of you, however I had actually never seen you play. Then I viewed you and said I got to have you.'” A 6-foot-2 local of Detroit who participates in

IMG Academy(Florida), Acuff is the No. 2 point guard and No. 10 total possibility in the ESPN 100 for 2025. He averaged 23.9 points– 2nd in the competitors– and 3.6 helps for The Household on the Nike EYBL circuit this spring, and after that began all 6 games for the U.S.A. Basketball under-18 team at the FIBA U18 AmeriCup. He balanced 17.8 points and 4.0 helps en route to a gold medal.Acuff can score as well as anybody in the class. He enters the paint with ease, given his speed, a tight and regulated manage, together with wiggle in his game to keep protectors off balance. He’s difficult to protect as he can go in either direction off the bounce or pull up and tear down a jumper. An underrated supplier, Acuff has vision and timing on his passes. The next step for him is to balance out his game in regards to scoring and helping with while being more of a ball mover. “I am dealing with being more of a group player, “Acuff said.” I am attempting to utilize my voice more and be more of a leader. Me and coach Sean McAloon have had numerous discussions this spring and summertime about how I can be much better. I need to be more of a point player. Also picking up the ball faster.”Acuff ends up being the 16th five-star point guard to commit to Calipari since he took over at Kentucky in 2009. Calipari has now landed a minimum of one five-star point guard in every class because period except 2012 and 2019. That trend has carried over to Arkansas so far, as first-class point player Boogie Fland followed Calipari from Kentucky to Fayetteville in the 2024 class.Calipari hired 7 No. 1 classes to Lexington during his time at Kentucky, and he has continued to take big swings given that making the move to Arkansas. With Acuff in the fold, Calipari is still targeting the similarity Meleek Thomas(No. 7), Koa Peat (No. 4), Caleb Wilson(No. 5), Nate Ament(No. 8)and more. The Razorbacks also made the final five for Jasper Johnson(No. 12), who cut his list Wednesday.In what has actually been an incredibly slow-developing class when it pertains to commitments, Acuff is the very first five-star senior to reveal his college choice. Going into the week, No. 20 Sadiq White– who is going to Syracuse– was the highest-ranked possibility to have actually made his commitment.