A Bit Of Perspective On Okafor's Rookie Season

When the roll of ACC greats is called, the names of one-and-done players will not be mentioned. If they are, it will be as much for a sense of what might have been as a recognition of what was.

Still, because freshman records are kept, we can place the abbreviated achievements of very early departees in some perspective, celebrating what they do accomplish in their short time on the ACC stage. And once in a while, as in the case of Jahlil Okafor, the Duke center who's likely halfway through his college career after playing 18 games, those marks will stand up well against the achievements of anyone who comes before or after, no matter how many seasons they play.

So far this year the patient, poised, polished Okafor has 203 field goal attempts to his credit and has converted 136. Based on an official standard of five shots made per outing, that .670 accuracy leads all ACC players in 2015.

To date, the best official field goal percentage by a freshman across an entire year was .646 by North Carolina's Brandan Wright in 2007. Wright also was the ACC leader that season.

Okafor is currently a more efficient shooter from the floor than Wright, or any other freshman in ACC history. He's also officially among the best shooters all-time among the league's single-season field goal percentage leaders.

Oddly, Okafor is not as effective from the floor as another Duke freshman --Christian Laettner hit 72.3 percent of his 159 shots in 1989. But Laettner didn't meet the standard for official qualification -- he needed to make 180 shots in 36 games, and converted just 115 -- and thus is only noted by Duke.