Recruiting Report: Prince Aligbe (2022)
Minnehaha Academy freshman Prince Aligbe started high school classes a month ago and already has his first scholarship offer.
On Wednesday Western Kentucky jumped into the Minnesota waters by extending several scholarship offers to local players including 2022 wing/forward Prince Aligbe.
“It feels amazing to know that my hard work is being noticed as a freshman,” Prince said of the offer. It’s a blessing.”
Prince worked his way into the Redhawks rotation last year and became a key piece to their Class AA State Championship in 2017-18. Aligbe gave the state some Target Center highlights at state during a memorable time.
“My first biggest takeaway was the importance of defense,” said Aligbe of playing at the varsity level while in eighth grade. “Guarding many top guards in the state/country gave me that slight edge on the defense side when the big games came around.
“My best memory was either our ESPN game against Apple valley or our state championship game against Caledonia. In both games, everyone showcased their talents and we played as one unit.
“Finally, one thing I learned along the way is that you have to be grateful for everything you have. Two years ago as a seventh grader, I was injured, and the beginning of summer, I became injured once again. But during both of those times, I realized the amount of joyful things that occurred on and off the court.”
Aligbe was hurt one of the first weekends of the Grassroots season last April and missed a lot of time while all of his friends and teammates were competing. It was tough, but it was also a big moment in his maturation as a player.
“It was quite frustrating because everyone expected me to have such a big summer and just to know that everything I had to showcase couldn’t be shown,” Aligbe said. “It also helped though, because it motivated me to work hard during my return and make sure I go 100 percent every chance I get.
“Things I worked on this summer was my upper body, so I can finish against bigger defenders, my skill set, so I can become more of a postionless player.”
Western Kentucky was the first team to offer but far from the first team to make contact with Prince. Aligbe has been the guest of the Gopher basketball team already this fall and others are showing interest.
“I have interest from Minnesota, Texas, Tulane, Purdue, Colorado State, Iowa, Marquette, and Florida (in addition to WKU),” Aligbe said.