No. 1 and No. 4 recruits pick Duke
The nation's top-ranked overall recruit and the top-rated high school point guard both announced on Friday that they have committed to Duke for 2014.
Center Jahlil Okafor of Chicago's Whitney Young High School, who is the nation's No. 1-ranked recruit by both Scout.com and ESPN.com, and Tyus Jones of Apple Valley, Minn., High School, who is the No. 4-ranked overall recruit and No. 1 point guard by both services, had decided some time ago they would attend the same college.
On Friday they announced that college would be Duke.
"We just wanted the best opportunity to win," said the 6-foot-11 Okafor after announcing the decisions, which were televised live from their respective high schools.
Kansas and Arizona also landed commitments from players ranked among the top-10 recruits.
Kansas received a commitment from 6-foot-8 Cliff Alexander, a power forward from Curie Metropolitan High School in Chicago who is rated the No. 3 overall recruit by ESPN and No. 5 by Scout.
Arizona landed Stanley Johnson, a 6-foot-6 small forward from Mater Dei High School in the Los Angeles area who is rated the No. 7 overall recruit by Scout.com and No. 9 by ESPN.com.
But the big prize went to Duke.
Okafor and Jones are the most notable package deal since Greg Oden and Mike Conley committed to Ohio State in the 2006 class.
But the Okafor and Jones pairing was a bit different because they have never played together at the high school or AAU levels.
Their friendship began while playing for USA Basketball, beginning in 2010 and continuing the next two summers for teams that won gold medals.
They took official visits to Baylor, Duke, and Kansas together this fall.
