Last weekend in Minneapolis at the fourth and final session of the Nike EYBL, No. 1 junior Jahlil Okafor (Chicago/Whitney Young) spent a lot of his free time with two friends and fellow top-10 prospects in the 2014 class: Tyus Jones (Apple Valley, Minn./Apple Valley) and Justise Winslow (Houston/St. John’s).

There has been a lot of talk that those three elite recruits could choose to play together in college. On Wednesday night, Okafor tweeted that his final eight consists of -- in no particular order -- Arizona, Baylor, Duke, Illinois, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan State and Ohio State.

Why did he decide to narrow his list now? What were the factors in determining the finalists? Which programs were the toughest ones to leave off? How serious is the talk of a possible package deal with Jones and Winslow? And what exactly makes Okafor such a special, highly sought after prospect? Let’s examine.