Amile Jefferson: Why Star PF Should Choose NC State over Duke

When five-star recruit Amile Jefferson reaches for a college hat sometime in the next week or two, he'd be smart to grab North Carolina State's red rather than Duke's blue. 

It's hard to go wrong with either NC State or Duke if you're going to be playing basketball, but in Jefferson's situation, the Wolfpack are the way to go.

Of course, Jefferson, who seems to love attention (what high schooler doesn't?), could just as easily shock the world and pick Ohio State, Villanova or Kentucky (whole list per Rivals), but for the sake of this argument we'll just break down Duke and NC State.

The main thing that will shape Jefferson's decision will be his ability to get to the next level. What five-star recruit doesn't initially plan on leaving college after a year or two?

A very small percentage, if any, that's who.

So, if Jefferson is going to quickly make it to the next level, he'll have to gain playing time in order to prove he's ready for the NBA. If he wants playing time, NC State is the clear choice.

Jefferson is a smart power forward who possesses good moves on the block to go along with solid rebounding and blocking skills. But at six-foot-seven, 190 pounds, Jefferson still needs to put on a lot of bulk, and a slight frame can be a big problem at the next level, no matter how good you are.

Just look at half of Baylor's forwards. 

Because of this, Jefferson is going to have essentially no chance of unseating Mason Plumlee or Ryan Kelly from the starting lineup. Instead, he'll have to battle Josh Hairston, Alex Murphy and Marshall Plumlee for playing time.

At NC State, though, forwards are dropping like flies.

C.J. Leslie and Richard Howell return, but Tyler Harris and DeShawn Painter have both transferred, leaving up a spot for Jefferson to be the first big man off the bench. That's an easy 20 minutes per game in a system that suits his game way more than Duke's does. 

The end game for these young recruits is the NBA. The best route there for Jefferson is NC State, who is quickly starting to look like the team to beat in the ACC and a national championship contender.

Jefferson, who is ranked No. 25 in the class of 2012 by ESPN, has delayed his decision for just about as long as possible with the spring signing period ending on May 16.

The common consensus is that the talented power forward will end up in the state of North Carolina one way or another, but he would be wise to just stay south on 147 and make his way to Raleigh. 

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