Jones Goes The Other Way

May 5, 2008

7:00 P.M. CST

Well in the end, we ended up going 50 percent on our predictions regarding what would happen with respect to the recruitment of Verdell Jones.  What we got right was predicting that Jones would end up cancelling his visit to Arizona this past weekend, which is exactly what happened.  However, what we ended up getting wrong was his college choice.

In a somewhat surprising development, the 6'4 guard from Central High School in Champaign, IL has committed to Indiana University.  Jones made the announcement today at a press conference in Champaign and ended up choosing the Hoosiers over Minnesota. 

The reason why we say that Jones' decision comes as a surprise is that while the Hoosiers had been in the running from the time that Tom Crean was named the new head coach at Indiana, everything seemed to indicate that in the end the Golden Gophers would win out.  Jones' most recent campus visit was to Minnesota and Verdell Jones Jr. (Verdell's father) had even invited various members of the Minneapolis media to attend today's press conference.

However, Jones had also visited the Bloomington, IN campus and in the end the decision came down to immediate playing time.  There is no doubt that Jones will receive it at Indiana, as at the present time the Hoosiers return only three scholarship players.

Jones will provide coach Crean with a prototypical point guard who is high-energy and has a tremendous feel for the game.  There is no question that playmaking is his forte and what he does first and foremost is get all of his teammates involved, as indicated by the fact that he is one of the all-time assist leaders in Illinois high school basketball history.

To say that Jones' recruitment over the past year was a whirlwind is a gross understatement.  During that span there were countless erroneous reports of scholarship offers that quite frankly never came.  It is therefore no small coincidence that Jones ended up cancelling several campus visits that he had hoped to set up, including Arizona, Kentucky and Tennessee. 

The Hoosier coaching staff has immediately made its presence known on the recruiting trail since arriving in Bloomington and with coach Crean's outstanding ability to identify talent in the state of Illinois and passion for recruiting the Chicago area, everyone can expect Indiana to continue to be a strong recruiting presence in the Prairie State.  

Continue to check in with Illinois Prep Bulls-eye for all of the latest as it pertains to recruiting and high school basketball in Illinois.