CHICAGO — Jahlil Okafor hasn't forgotten his high school roots heading into Monday's NCAA tournament championship game with Duke.
Okafor's former Whitney Young basketball teammate, McKinley Nelson, videotaped the Blue Devils star giving a shoutout to his alma mater's TV station — DUBTV — following Duke's Elite Eight victory over Gonzaga in Houston last Sunday.
"This is Jahlil Okafor. I'm here with my dad [Chukwudi]. Shoutout to all the Dolphins. You're watching DUBTV," Okafor said in the video, which appeared on the school's weekly Internet television program. Okafor's bit comes near the 9:30 mark.
"Jah loves Whitney Young so it wasn't much of a hassle to get him to do it," Nelson said. "Jah's my best friend. After the game, he came out to the see his family and friends and just asked him to do the shoutout really quickly."
Okafor is the second ex-Dolphins player to reach a Final Four, joining Ohio State's Sam Thompson, who lost to Kansas in a 2012 national semifinal.
Okafor made the Associated Press All-America first team last week. He's also the expected No. 1 selection in the upcoming NBA draft.
"To see Jah in the Final Four is ideal," Nelson said. "It's not only big for Whitney Young but the city of Chicago as a whole, especially since he's performing at the level he is."
Okafor also appeared on DUBTV in 2013 when mocking his decision to attend Duke.
"Jahlil is a good guy who was a good sport [in 2013] on DUB TV," said Jay Rehak, who teaches the Honors TV Production class at Whitney Young. "It is very good to have alumni like Jahlil remember the little people."
Duke beat Michigan State and will face Wisconsin, which topped No. 1 overall seed Kentucky, in Monday night's national championship game in Indianapolis.
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