“He’s trying to finish up these last few high school games and then he’s going to make a decision,” Malcolm Musgrove, Jefferson’s father, told SNY.tv Monday evening.

“He has three more games and then the playoffs. His season could be over next Tuesday.”

SNY.tv reported that a source close to Jefferson’s recruitment said the 6-foot-7 Philly Friends Central forward would likely choose between Duke or N.C. State, and that he was leaning “60/40″ to Duke.

Musgrove said no schools had been eliminated, which would mean Kentucky, Villanova, UConn and Ohio State are still alive.

“He still has the same schools,” Musgrove said. “He’s still talking to the coaches weekly so he hasn’t eliminated any of the schools he has. So they’re still in the mix and he’s talking to them weekly.”

Asked which school Jefferson had spoken to most recently, Musgrove said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called last night (Sunday).

“I talked to Duke last night,” Musgrove said. “[Coach K] talked a lot about what he sees and they’re trying to understand if he can understand their system and how he would play in their system.

“They have bigs and guards and they don’t have as many kids that are versatile enough to play a small forward and a big forward.”

Longtime New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski said he could see Jefferson fitting in well at Duke.

“When you look at their roster, they probably do need some wings,” he said. “He’s not really a wing yet. He’s a wing in training. I think eventually he’ll be a three man. I don’t think he’s three man right now.

“His attractiveness to them is the fact that he’s got a very high basketball IQ. He’s not an extra-terrestrial athlete but he’s a guy who knows how to play, is very efficient. He plays very much of the team game.

“He doesn’t score a zillion points. He lets the game come to him and is a good team player with a high IQ, and that’s why I think he would fit into a program like that.”

Konchalski said Jefferson would need to “flesh out his perimeter skills if he wants to be a wing player.”

“Right now he’s more of a four/three,” he added. “He’s not the kind of athlete who’s a one-and-done or a two-and-done but he could be a very good player and a major contributor by the time he’s finished.”

Of course, he’s not a done deal to Duke yet.

Musgrove said his son spoke to N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried “a few days ago” and also speaks with Kentucky coach John Calipari.

Jefferson is in the mix to be a McDonald’s All-American and is anxiously awaiting the announcement of the team Feb. 7.

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Philly Friends Central forward Amile Jefferson is still mulling his college options, but at least one source close to the recruitment believes it will come down to Duke or N.C. State.

“I think it’s 60/40 Duke,” the source said.

In this interview with FiveStarBasketball.com, Jefferson lavished praise upon Duke and  Coach K.

“Duke’s a great program, it pretty much speaks for itself,” Jefferson said. “Basketball, academic-wise and really all walks of a college experience, that’s really one of the places you would want to be.

“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.”

Duke already has a pledge from 6-3 Houston shooting guard Rasheed Sulaimon and is also involved with 6-6 wing Shabazz Muhammad, the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2012, and 6-8 forward Tony Parker.

Jefferson is publicly saying he’s also considering Villanova, Ohio State, Kentucky and UConn, but the source said the family has privately said it’s either Duke or N.C. State.

“When I finally make my decision,” Jefferson said, “I will definitely feel some pressure go off of me.”

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“It gives you a little pressure,” Muhammad told MassLive.com. “But when I start playing the game I just zone in. Coach K and Coach Calipari, those are the two best coaches in the game. You look at those guys and you have a little jitters.”

The 6-foot-6 Muhammad has trimmed his list to six schools, Duke, Kentucky, UCLA, UNLV, Kansas and Arizona. He has three official visits left.

As first reported by SNY.tv, Muhammad will visit Duke March 1 for the North Carolina game.

“Coach K, he’s just a mastermind,” Muhammad said. “He lets his guards go which is great for me, so I’m really excited to go down there.”

Arizona wasn’t even in the mix a few months back, but appears to have made great strides with Muhammad by virtue of a recruiting class that includes Kaleb Tarczewski, Grant Jerrett and Brandon Ashley.

“Arizona has a great freshman class coming in,” Muhammad said. “Their freshman class is probably the top in the country right now. They’re also a high tempo style of play which is great.”

UNLV is the local school and has signed Muhammad’s Bishop Gorman teammate, Demetris Morant.

UCLA has signed Muhammad’s close friend Kyle Anderson, who also won Monday at the Hoophal and is now 45-0 in a St. Anthony uniform.

Asked where he sees himself in three years, Muhammad said, “I see myself in the NBA trying to contribute to my team for a world championship.”

Photo: MassLive.com

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Alex Schwartz of NBE reports that Duke is now going after the 6-foot-7 Philly Friends Central forward who plans to sign in the spring.

Duke head man Mike Krzyzewski and assistant Chris Collins watched Jefferson play Tuesday, as did Villanova head coach Jay Wright and assistant Billy Lange.

“They got in touch with me and my father,” Jefferson told NBE of Duke. “They had been looking [at me during my] . . . sophomore year . . . The school speaks for itself.”

Jefferson told NBE he’s now considering Duke, Kentucky, UConn, N.C. State, Ohio State, Temple and Villanova.

A previous report out of Philly indicated he had cut his list to five — with no Stanford or UConn, and Temple a longshot — which really shows that this recruitment changes from week to week.

Some had thought that Kentucky was in the driver’s seat, but with Coach K coming to watch him play, the situation appears to be fluid.

“It means a lot,” Jefferson said of Krzyzewski watching. “He’s a great guy, he’s the best at what he does.”

Jefferson said he still has no timetable on a decision.

“I’m still taking my time, [but I may want to] make one soon, so I need to sit down with my father,” Jefferson said.

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NEW YORK 

Without the Boston Celtics to coach, Doc Rivers attended his son’s first eight games at Duke, including making that, ahem, tough trip to Maui.

“My first eight games he was at every single game front and center supporting me, which is really neat,” Austin said after scoring a team-best 18 points despite fouling out in No. 5 Duke’s 86-80 win over Washington on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

“I’ve never once been part of an NBA lockout, and the fact that my dad got to come to my games for once was pretty neat because he usually never got to. Back in my high school and my whole life, he’s come to one to three games a year.”

Click here to read the full column at SheridanHoops.com.

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Yet it certainly appears that the 6-foot-8 Murphy will redshirt this season and actually start his college career in 2012.

“It’s still to be determined but a redshirt is most likely that’s going to be the plan,” Murphy told SNY.tv after No. 5 Duke beat Washington, 86-80, Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

Murphy said he was actually looking forward to redshirting in order to prepare and get stronger for next season when senior Miles Plumlee will have graduated and junior Mason Plumlee could be in the NBA.

“I’m excited about it,” he said. “If it does go into the works, I think having that extra year to just sort of take a back seat and watch this team and watch some of the older guys, and then also taking this year for myself to get stronger and just get more accustomed to the game with speed and stuff like that. And just working on my own game as well. So an extra year, it can’t hurt.”

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski previously said no official decision would be made about Murphy or 6-11 fellow freshman Marshall Plumlee until after the season. Neither has played during the regular season.

“You don’t make a decision like that now,” he told FayObserver.com earlier this year. “There’s no such thing as redshirting a guy until the end of the season. There is no mechanism like that. You have to wait until the end of the season. Then, if he hasn’t played, then you ask for a redshirt.”

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Matt Jones

Now he’s working on his Texas Titans teammate Julius Randle to join him in 2013.

“I’d probably tell him, since it’s our last year together playing AAU, ‘J, I know you are going to miss me. But if you come to Duke, you don’t have to, we’ll be right there together,’” Jones told Harrison Sanford of FiveStarBasketball.com. 

The 6-foot- 8 Randle still has a long list that also includes Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Baylor and others. But he admits Duke figures prominently.

“If I don’t go to Duke, I know I’m going to miss that kid man,” added Randle, the No. 1 power forward in the Class of 2013. “At the end, I just have to make the decision that’s best for me.”

He added:  ”Duke, pretty much, that’s a great school, great tradition. They have one of the best coaches ever …  There is a high chance I might go to Duke. I’m looking everywhere, I’m wide open.”

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Matt Jones,

“After long consideration with my parents and people around me , we felt it was best that I commit to DUKE UNIVERSITY !” Jones tweeted.

The 6-foot-4, 180-pound Jones out of DeSoto, Texas also held offers from North Carolina, Ohio State, Kansas, Texas, Baylor, Oklahoma, Missouri and Colorado, according to ESPN.

“I committed because of how they play,” Jones told Alex Kline of The Recruit Scoop. “Academics was a big factor, too. I felt like the coaches could take me to the next level, as well. It felt like a home away from home and my whole family liked Duke and the decision. It was the right timing.”

Jones is Duke’s first 2013 pledge. They are also targeting Jabari Parker, Julius Randle and Nerlens Noel in that class.

Jones and Randle are teammates on the Texas Titans AAU squad.

“Yoooo !!!! My brother @matt_jones8 just committed to duke !!! I’m so happy for him man .. Love you dude !! Congratulate him tweeps !!” Randle tweeted.

The Blue Devils have signed 6-4 shooting guard Rasheed Sulaimon of Houston Strake Jesuit for 2012, and are in the mix for Shabazz Muhammad and Tony Parker, both of whom will sign in the spring.

Click here to read the full story on Muhammad and Parker at FiveStarBasketball.com.

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That’s because their class currently consists of just one player — Rasheed Sulaimon, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Houston Strake Jesuit.

But the Blue Devils could shoot up dramatically in the rankings if they land one, or both, of their targets for the spring signing period: Shabazz Muhammad and Tony Parker.

“Me and him in the same program would be a really good thing and we would win a lot of games,” Muhammad, the No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2012, told Five Star Basketball in an exclusive interview.

Click here to read the full story at FiveStarBasketball.com.

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The group included not only his wife Mickie, and his immediate family, but his extended Duke family, too.

Former players Bobby Hurley, Jay Williams, Shane Battier, Mike Dunleavy, Jay Bilas, Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand, Billy King, Roshown McLeod and many others listened in as Coach K told them all career victory No. 903 — the one that moved him past his mentor Bob Knight and into first place on the all-time Division 1 wins list– was a “program win.”

“I hope all you former players still view me as your coach the way I still view Coach Knight as mine,” Coach K told them after his Duke squad beat Michigan State, 74-69. “I’ve never called him anything else.”

Ah, Coach Knight.

After the game, Coach K walked across the Madison Square Garden court and the two men, mentor and student from their days at West Point, shared a private moment.

“I love you and I love what you’ve done for me and thank you,” Coach K told his mentor.

“Boy, you’ve done pretty good for a kid who couldn’t shoot,” Knight answered back.

“So I think that means he loves me, too,” Krzyzewski later told reporters. “I’m going to take it as that, I’m going to take it as that.”

Krzyzewski said it was a moment of great joy for him that Knight — broadcasting the game on ESPN — was there to share the history making moment.

“I want to thank the basketball Gods for allowing coach to be here for this moment, to have the two of us together because you don’t know that that will happen,” Coach K said.

“That was really a good thing for the two of us to be together tonight.”

In the days leading up to Win 903, Knight joked that he was getting tired of praising his former pupil so much.

“Michael, will you win the first three games so I can stop saying nice things about you,” Knight told him.

“Coach, for the entire time I was at West Point, you never said one nice thing about me,” Krzyzewski shot back.

Coach K told the media that there had been too much focus on himself this week and that he was glad to have the milestone in his rearview mirror.

“I’m getting tired of watching me on TV,” he cracked. “The kids see that and it puts some pressure on them.”

Freshman guard Austin Rivers, sporting a cut over his right eye from the game, seemed somewhat frustrated with his own 1-for-7 shooting night, but glad to be a part of history.

“It’s a big win here in Madison Square Garden, certain players stepped up tonight and I’m glad we got the win for coach,” he said. “It’s really interesting to be a part of it.”

As Coach K moves toward the next big plateau — 1,000 wins, anyone ?– he wants to get back to the business of trying to win championship No. 5 with Rivers and this current group.

“I want to win a championship with each team I coach,” he said. “So I’m more into that because that’s the moment you want with each group.”

And here he was, on this most historic of nights, sharing the moment not only with Rivers and his current players, but with all the groups before.

“When you got a whole back hallway of former players, to me there’s nothing better than that,” Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. “That’s the greatest thing that happened tonight.”

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