Friends’ Central’s Jefferson Expected to Declare Soon

, the nationally rated power forward at in Wynnewood, was expected this week to announce which college he will attend, according to many national college basketball blogs, for many months now.

The decision was supposed to have come by today, Jan. 31, according to what Jefferson’s father, Malcolm Musgrove, told national press before the new year. But now the nothing-but-net blogosphere has it that the decision has been delayed until after the Friends’ basketball season is over. The Phoenix have a few more regular season games, followed by the playoffs.

With Jefferson as their anchor, Friends’ Central has won two straight Friends Schools League championships and three straight Pennsylvania Independent School state titles.

In what looks like bad news for fans of Villanova, which had been in serious contention for Jefferson's services, it appears that the 6-foot-8, 195-pound Jefferson has narrowed his choice down to two schools: Duke, and N.C. State.

“We’re told that the [N.C.] State staff sees it as neck and neck and while Duke has really made a late push, State is still feeling confident in their recruitment,” an independent N.C. State blog called “Pack Insider” wrote, on Jan. 29.

“Duke’s a great program, it pretty much speaks for itself,” Jefferson told FiveStarBasketball.com, included here with the YouTube clip above. “Basketball, academic-wise and really all walks of [the] college experience, that’s really one of the places you would want to be.”

He added that “playing for Coach K has to be amazing. He’s one of the, or if not the best, college coach there is, so to be able to have a chance to play for him, you know they’re going to have a chance to compete for a national championship.

“You know that you’re going to get better playing under him because he really coaches you and really cares for his players. So you really have to take a real hard look at them because it’s just a great school.”

Sounds to me like the young man is going to be a Blue Devil.

According to the DukeHoopBlog, Jefferson has been to the Duke campus every year since his freshman year at Friends, in one capacity or another.

“It is no secret Jefferson and his parents love Duke, from both a basketball and an academic perspective,” wrote Taylor Ostrick, of DukeHoopBlog. “Academics is very important to Jefferson, and it will likely be a large factor in his decision.”

But Pack Insider, the N.C. State blog, gave this story its true bottom line. “This recruitment could end tomorrow or it could stretch on until April. It’s really anyone’s guess at this point.”

Noted NationOfBlue.com, at the University of Kentucky (another strong contender): “Amile Jefferson was considering a decision by the early signing period, but he held off because new teams had jumped into his recruitment; Jefferson wanted to make a decision by the end of January, but now it looks like things have changed. ... Again.

“Instead of going through with his decision by this week, Jefferson now says he will wait until after his season concludes to make his decision ... It looks like we will be waiting another month for the announcement of Mr. Jefferson.”

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“What makes Amile special is he is so fundamentally sound in every aspect of the game,” former assistant Memphis coach Lamont Peterson . “Amile is very smart and he makes the right play consistently.”

Those smarts are another large aspect of his appeal. “Jefferson carries a 3.4 GPA at the demanding, highly academic Friends Central,” wrote Patch contributor . “You may not encounter a more comfortable, well-adjusted young man.”