Duke missed on Shabazz Muhammad and Tony Parker, but not on Amile Jefferson.

After being spurned by two of the country’s top recruits last month, the Blue Devils rebounded Tuesday with the last big prize of the 2012 college basketball recruiting class.

Jefferson, a McDonald’s All-American forward from Philadelphia, ended months of speculation – and weeks of waiting – by choosing Duke over N.C. State.

“This was a hard decision for me,” Jefferson said at a press conference attended by about 300 students and faculty at his high school’s gym.

With his mother and father sitting next to him, Jefferson put on a Duke hat and said, “In the end, I just felt Duke was the best choice for me.”

via J.P. Giglio of the News Observer