Duke Freshman Ready To Dominate with High Expectations
By Chris Brown
CBS Sports recently released it’s preseason NCAA basketball award list for the 2014-2015 season and, even though it’s early, Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor will have very high expectations for the upcoming season. Okafor, the top ranked recruit in the 2014 class, is predicted by CBS to make the NCAA All-American First Team and was tabbed as the preseason National Player of the Year. Montrezl Harrell (Louisville), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (Arizona), Marcus Paige (North Carolina), and Fred VanVleet (Wichita State) join Okafor on the projected All-American First Team.
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Even though these are extremely high accolades for a freshman who has never played a college basketball game, Jahlil Okafor says he’s looking forward to playing up to the great expectations saying, “When I step on the court, it really doesn’t matter if I’m a freshman or a senior. It’s basketball, and I’ve been playing basketball my entire life. So I feel extremely confident about going out there and playing against anybody and feeling unstoppable and being just as dominant as I have been in my previous years of playing basketball. So somebody saying I can’t [be National Player of the Year] because I’m a freshman is kinda ludicrous to me.” The co-MVP of the McDonald’s High School All-America game is also expected to be a top lottery pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, drawing high praise from college and professional scouts as a talented center prospect.
“They [Duke coaching staff] want me to be the most dominant player in college basketball.” – Jahlil Okafor
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Jahlil Okafor’s confidence is also expressed by his Duke teammates. Senior guard Quinn Cook used the word “dominant” to describe 6’11” freshman center’s talent level, and this has also been expressed by coaching staff. Okafor will play a huge role for the Blue Devils this year and they will look for him to be aggressive at the center position in the NCAA. Okafor had this to say about meeting with members of the coaching staff earlier in the preseason, “Sitting down with Coach K and Coach Capel, they say I don’t necessarily have to win the awards, but they told me this team will be most successful if I’m the most dominant player in college this year, and that’s something they’ve emphasized since I’ve stepped on campus. They want me to be the most dominant player in college basketball.”
Okafor is a part of the top ranked recruiting freshman class this season. Blue Devil freshman point guard Tyus Jones also received a nod in the preseason awards list, and is projected to be on the All-American Third Team for the upcoming season with Ron Baker (Wichita State), Stanley Johnson (Arizona), Georges Niang (Iowa State), and Karl-Anthony Towns (Kentucky). The 2014-2015 season will officially begin after Countdown to Craziness on Saturday, October 25th and their first exhibition game is November 4th against Livingstone.