Duke University head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski knows trying to keep freshman center Jahlil Okafor is already a futile effort.
He told ESPN the Associated Press and Sporting News All-American will play this season at Duke before becoming a high draft pick in the NBA. Okafor has an ideal frame for a center at six-foot-11 and 270 pounds, making him a highly intriguing prospect, like Joel Embiid was last year.
The main difference between the two, however, is Embiid did not have Okafor's basketball background, being from Cameroon. Despite not playing a minute in college basketball, Okafor was third on ESPN's top 100 players for the upcoming season, ranking behind UNC's Marcus Paige and Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky.
"We won't have him long," Krzyzewski said. "We'll have him this year and then he'll be one of the top [NBA] picks."
As a highly coveted recruit from Chicago, Okafor won co-MVP honors at the Jordan Brand and McDonald's All American games. As a breakout star last year, Embiid went third overall in the NBA Draft, but may have gone first overall if not for a preexisting injury.
Okafor has to have a similar ceiling, especially given the value of a talented, classic big man in the NBA.
"He's really one of the great kids," Krzyzewski said. "He's 6-10, about 265. He has huge hands. So the ball is small in his hands. Part of that hurts him some because he's accustomed to rebounding with one hand, and rebounding is better with two hands. But scoring-wise he's able to do it. He's got incredible touch and really good feet."
The NBA requires draftees to spend at least one year in college, so many of the game's best players only enroll out of necessity. Duke has seen its fair share of such one-and-done prospects in recent years, like Jabari Parker most recently, and Austin Rivers and Kyrie Irving beforehand.
