Duke Basketball Recruiting: Grading Amile Jefferson's Signing

The Duke Blue Devils may have missed out on a few other top recruits, but finally they landed their one.

Amile Jefferson out of Philadelphia’s Friends’ Central School will be heading south, according to CBS Sports college basketball insider Jeff Goodman:

"

Duke just picked up Amile Jefferson.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) May 15, 2012"

Jefferson is ranked 22nd overall by Rivals and 25th by ESPNU in the class of 2012. At 6’9’’ and 200 pounds, he is the ideal power forward at the collegiate level and should be able to fill the scoring void left by Austin Rivers with ease.

But was this the best decision he could have made?

Grading Jefferson’s Decision: B

For guys like Jefferson, the sole object of his collegiate decision is to put himself in the best position possible to land a spot in the lottery of the NBA draft.

While Duke provides plenty of exposure nationally, and a rugged ACC schedule, I think Duke was only the second best option of the five schools he was considering (Villanova, Kentucky, Ohio State, NC State).

He should have picked the NC State Wolfpack.

One of the surprises of the 2012 tournament is retuning virtually every major player from the Sweet 16 club, including potential All-American CJ Leslie.

With Leslie commanding so much attention in the post, Jefferson could have had an absolute field day taking advantage of the weaker defender on the floor. As odd as this sounds, he would have had a better shot of winning a national championship at NC State than Duke next season.

But it’s not like Duke is an awful choice.

With Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly coming back to school, the Dukies will have a formidable frontline that should keep them near the top of the league standings. The incredibly versatile Jefferson will be joining five-star guard Rasheed Sulaimon in Cameron and the team certainly has plenty of potential to be great right off the bat.

He will be playing for one of the greatest basketball coaches of all-time, will instantly be a star with the Cameron Crazies and can start right away.

While I think he should have gone to NC State, Duke was certainly not a poor choice by any means. 

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