The UNC-Duke rivalry runs deep and players carry that into their life post-athletics. But before the athletes decide on their school, they had allegiances to their favorite teams.
And sometimes, those players were a fan of a rival.
The latest case of this comes with former Duke star Jahlil Okafor, who played one season with the Blue Devils helping them win a national championship. It’s the last title Duke has won as the class featuring Okafor, Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow, and Grayson Allen delivered a title in 2015.
Okafor was a five-star recruit out of Chicago who picked the Blue Devils in June of 2014. He had 18 total offers and visited Duke, Kansas, Arizona, Kentucky and Baylor. While UNC did offer, the recruitment never progressed to where they were a serious contender. But Okafor did consider the Tar Heels at one point.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes. I loved Carolina, actually,” Okafor said to former UNC forward Theo Pinson on the ‘Run Your Race’ podcast. “Honestly, when I first found out about the rivalry, when I was watching documentaries as a shorty, Carolina was the side that I felt like I was a part of. Young and dumb. Young and dumb.”
Pinson went on to say something that he’s said before, that he grew up a Duke fan. So it happens.
Okafor dominated while at Duke and went on to be the No. 3 overall pick in the NBA draft, going to Philadelphia.
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