Yep. I was thinking about Jeffries the other day. Duke has just missed on better players--although he was pretty good--but the circumstances of his recruitment made missing on him painful and frustrating.
For those of you not familiar with his recruitment, here's a summary.
Jeffries was a 6-9 power forward in Duhon's class. K prioritized him and he had a good visit to Duke.
Like Brandon Ingram, Jeffries established an announcement date, on a Monday, at his school; he was a fall commitment.
As of the Friday before, he had told Duke that he would be coming to Duke. He was on the bus.
But Jeffries was from Bloomington, Indiana. Bob Knight worked the local angle all weekend. How can you turn down a chance to play in front of the people who raised you, who supported you when no one knew who you were, your teachers, your minister, your barber.
You get the drift.
Jeffries fell for the pitch--or found it compelling, depends on your perspective, I suppose and did a 180.
Ironically, Knight never coached Jeffries in a game. He was fired less than a year after getting Jeffries to sign. And Duke and Jeffries did cross paths, to Duke's detriment.
Jeffries went on to a journeyman career in the NBA and Duke won the 2001 title without him. But he sure would have come in handy in 2002.
