6'11" Jahlil Okafor, Photo by Andrew Slater

Hailed as the best big man from Chicagoland since Eddy Curry, 6’11″ Jahlil Okafor, the Brobdingnagian sophomore center from Whitney Young, has lived up to the high expectations. Last September, Jahlil was the first player that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski offered a scholarship to in the 2014 class. It was a particularly early offer from a program that historically has been conservative in both the sheer number and timing of its offers, but clearly the staff felt that Okafor was an exceptional person and player. Jahlil was coming off of a summer where he played a critical role, shooting a remarkably efficient 71.1% from the field and 82.6% from the charity stripe, in leading the United States to a gold medal at the FIBA Americas 16U Championship in Cancun, Mexico.

At Whitney Young, the Chicago academic magnet school that includes Michelle Obama as an alumna, Jahlil, a 3.4 GPA student, took on much more of a substantial role this season, while the team travelled all over the country playing challenging contests in California, the Carolinas, and St. Louis against nationally ranked teams like Bishop Gorman and Gonzaga as well as Chicago powers Simeon and Curie. After starting three games on a 20-10 team as a freshman for the Dolphins of Whitney Young, Okafor stepped up his game and made second-team All-State as a sophomore and MaxPreps named him to their Sophomore All-American team. Blessed with a 7’3″ wingspan, Jahlil averaged nearly thirteen rebounds, twenty-five points, five blocks, and four steals, while shooting nearly seventy percent from the field this high school season.

6'11" Jahlil Okafor, Photo by Andrew Slater

In early December, Jahlil, a pure low-post player who isn’t afraid to bang inside, visited the Triangle and took an unofficial visit to Duke University, touring the facilities and also watching the team practice. Twice this high school season, Coach K of Duke University returned the favor, coming to watch the sophomore big man play in person. In the initial viewing at the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Coach K observed Jahlil score ten points and grab a dozen rebounds in a 46-44 buzzer-beating win over Prestonwood (TX) and 6’9″ force Julius Randle, one of the top players in the 2013 class and a Duke recruit. At the second viewing, Coach K watched Jahlil battle his Mac Irvin friend and fellow Duke recruit Jabari Parker, the Gatorade Player of the Year, in the state 4A Sectionals in Summit, Illinois. Although Jahlil had nine first-half points and helped the Dolphins take a 24-21 halftime lead, eventually the depth and experience of Simeon proved too much on that day, as the eventual state champion Wolverines won 52-42 ending Whitney Young’s season with a record of 16-10 against one of this year’s most challenging schedules in high school basketball.

After splitting his time between the Mac Irvin 17s and 16s last summer, the sociable center is anchoring the paint for the Mac Irvin Fire 17U team full-time this AAU season. This weekend in Dallas, the sophomore Okafor stepped up and had his best AAU weekend to date, leading the Fire to a 5-0 session and averaging over sixteen points, seven rebounds, and two blocks in twenty-one minutes at the third leg of Nike’s EYBL. This EYBL season, Jahlil, now 16, has been Mac Irvin’s leading overall scorer (165 points in 260 minutes) and has shot an eye-catching 71.7% from the field, helping the Fire to eleven wins in fourteen games. During the early live period, the Duke staff was a constant presence at his Mac Irvin games, including a memorable one at the Boo Williams Complex in Virginia, where the 275 lb strong young man tore down the rim.

After an EYBL game, the bass-voiced Jahlil spoke with me about Mac Irvin’s passing, his goals for this summer, and his relationship with Jabari Parker, amongst other topics.

The current Duke National Championship coaching staff of Steve Wojciechowski, Chris Collins, Jeff Capel and Nate James will join Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Mike Krzyzewski to host and coach in K Academy X – a camp for adults aged 35 and above. In addition, Duke Basketball stars from the 70′s, 80′s, 90′s and 2000′s will also coach again at America’s first and top-rated college fantasy basketball camp.

The K Academy brings team-building techniques into an once-in-a-lifetime experience for the ultimate Duke or college basketball fan. Every camper will spend five days in Cameron and in the premier practice facility in the country – the Krzyzewski Center for Academic & Athletic Excellence – where they’ll go from opening day tryouts to Sunday’s championship tournament. Along the way the campers will play games on Coach K Court in Cameron and learn the inside scoop on Duke’s four-time national championship program.

A lively social program, including a charity auction benefiting Durham’s Emily Krzyzewski Center, completes the experience. All campers reside in the four-star Washington Duke Inn & Golf Course on the Duke University campus.

The enrollment tuition for the K Academy continues to be $10,000. The Academy is partially tax-deductible as profits go to the Duke Basketball Legacy Fund. The camp has limited enrollment of 88 participants – 80 playing campers and eight non-playing bench captains.

There are limited playing spots remaining, interested parties can register online at www.kacademy.com; contact the Duke Basketball Legacy Fund office at (919) 613-7501; or email Associate Director of the Legacy Fund, Rachel Curtis, at rcurtis@duaa.duke.edu.

Point Guard Tyus Jones, Photo by Andrew Slater

“He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.” – Sun Tzu

At fifteen, Tyus Jones, the 6’1″ 175 lb point guard from Apple Valley, Minnesota, has accomplished more on the basketball court than almost all of his peers, utilizing a mix of court vision, change of pace, and advanced perimeter skills.

On a national level, Jones’ coming out party was last April in Dallas when, playing for the Howard Pulley Panthers, he scorched a Seattle AAU team for forty-five points, despite being more than two years younger than his competition. He quickly followed that up by earning a spot on the ultra-competitive USA Basketball’s U-16 team in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Soon thereafter, the self-described “pass-first point guard” helped lead the United States to a gold medal at the FIBA Americas 16U Championship in Cancun, Mexico. Jones broke current Duke point guard Quinn Cook’s tournament assist record, dishing off twenty-eight assists to, amongst others, fellow Duke recruits Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor, and Theo Pinson.

Tyus has been playing varsity basketball for Apple Valley, a suburb of the Twin Cities and home of the Minnesota Zoo, since he was an eighth grader. Last year, he missed more than eight weeks (thirteen games) of the season after lacerating his kidney, when he unfortunately landed in the heel of a St. Louis Park player.

This year, the sophomore came back and lead the Eagles to a 23-6 record, scoring more than twenty-eight points per game. For the season, despite being the focal point of a variety of “junk” defenses, the precocious point guard shot an eye-popping 56% from the field, 44% from beyond the three-point arc, and better than 86% from the charity stripe. In addition to earning a MaxPreps All-American distinction and the Star-Tribune’s Player of the Year, Gatorade named the sophomore Minnesota’s Player of the Year, noting his performance on the court, 3.1 GPA, and charitable work with Feed My Starving Children.

In the late winter, Coach Mike Krzyzewski formally offered Jones a scholarship to Duke University. It was an unusually early scholarship offer for the Duke program, but, as a rising sophomore, Tyus Jones first captured the attention of the four-time National Champion and Olympic gold medal-winning head coach at last year’s Peach Jam. Jones has already visited unofficially three Big Ten schools: Ohio State, Michigan State, and his hometown Minnesota Gophers. Tyus told BDN that he will definitely visit Duke in the future.

The sophomore lead guard comes from a tight basketball family. His affable father, Rob Jones, who is 6’6,” played for Proviso East (IL) HS and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, while his mother, Debbie, won a state title as the point guard for Devils Lake (ND) HS. His older brother, 6’2″ Jadee, played for Furman and Minnesota State-Monkato. Jadee has been Tyus’ trainer and the one he credits for his shooting prowess, working on repetitions and technique.

If anyone thought that there might be a sophomore slump with Tyus, they’ve been sorely disappointed. The shrew lead guard is now at the top of the national leaders in both points (21 per game) and assists (6.55 per game), while exhibiting more vocal leadership skills. His team, the Howard Pulley Panthers, currently have a 5-4 record through the first two legs of the competitive Nike EYBL. This weekend, at the Boo Williams Complex in Hampton, Virginia, Tyus concluded the weekend with a 37 point, 8 assist, and 5 rebound performance in a win over the Bluff City Legends of  Tennessee.  Throughout the two live period weekends, the Duke coaches have been a constant presence at his games.

After an EYBL game, Tyus spoke with me about, amongst other things, leadership, USA Basketball, pre-game visualization, his use of change of pace, the early Duke offer, pressure to stay home for college, and his family’s support.

Coaches look on

Day Two of the Nile EYBL Session II is in the books and it was a long one where the coaches were in the gym all day and night. It’s hard to figure out where to start tonight in that my head is swimming from information overload. Let’s start with Tyler Ennis who is still

He then stated to any possible disbelievers that it was true and that he doesn’t lie and while some from afar still might think, he has taken a look past Greensboro, I can assure you that he hasn’t.  It does no good to worry about anything past Lehigh and scout Notre Dame and Xavier for there is simply too much you cannot control.

Krzyzewski holds the highest NCAA winning percentage with a 96-31 record which translates into a .756%, so if he chooses to focus on one game at a time, then so be it for it has worked for him in the past.   A further testament to his prowess is the fact Duke has been a #1 or #2 seed in the tournament 14 of the past 16 years and who can find any fault in that?

With 927 wins, the most of any coach ever to be at the helm in college basketball it can sometimes be overlooked by fans just how lucky they are.  Krzyzewski is a living legend and that is sometimes hard to realize amongst an increasingly spoiled fan base.

In 2010, he guided his team to the National Championship when nobody gave them a chance.  Duke was called to unathletic and a team without a true point guard but they managed to find ways of using their teams strengths and brough hime his 4th national championship.

And that is why I feel confident that Coach Krzyzewski will tweak this team a bit more, one which is certainly battle tested and good, but a team with a smaller margin for error than some of his past teams.

It’s not easy adjusting to injuries in the middle of the season and I am of course referring to Ryan Kelly who missed the ACC Tournament and possibly the game this Friday.  While the Duke defense picked it up recently, the offense struggled and the man in charge recognized that and said that his team would get back to what they were doing earlier in the season.

Adjustments have been a huge part of the Duke program, one which takes every teams best shot.  Krzyzewski has been a master at taking his talent and molding them into a team and I am of the opinion that this years edition has been one of his best coaching jobs in Durham.

This years team doesn’t have the upperclassmen leadership as some of the recent Duke teams. but who is betting against him pushing the right buttons to get the most out of what he’s got?

The Blue Devils are in practice right now and  Coach Krzyzewski is planning his teams way.  You can bet that he will try to push each players buttons to get the most out of them, be they in a slump or just hitting a wall.

Counting the Blue Devils out in March is simply something that should never be done under the man known as Coach K for he has a knack at getting the most out of all his teams.  Duke needs three wins for a fourth straight 30 win season, but the 28th win is all Krzyewski has on his mind at this time.

While March Madness is tense as it can be where teams are one and done with a loss, Duke fans should feel good about having Krzyzewski on their side. History shows us that Krzyzewski is the winningest coach in the NCAA Tournament and that is something no other school in all the brackets can claim.