Class Of 2012 Player Watch: Curtis Jones

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

June 29, 2009

3:45 P.M. CST

No player in the state from the class of 2012 has risen his stock as rapidly as 6'0 guard Curtis "C.J." Jones from Orr High School in Chicago.  While Jones has performed splendidly throughout the spring while playing for the Illinois Warriors 15-under traveling team, it has been at various team camps during the month of June where Jones has really turned people's heads.

Jones was outstanding at the Northern Illinois University Team Camp at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and followed it up with spectacular performances at both the University of Illinois Satellite Camp (also at Moody) and the Northwestern University Team Camp on the Wildcats' campus in Evanston.  He is a big reason why as of now Orr is the best team in the Chicago Public League that virtually no one knows about.

What we like the most about Jones is that he is an ideal combo guard.  He handles the ball extremely well, is dynamite in the open floor and changes direction as well as any guard in the state of Illinois regardless of class, which is why he gets to the goal with relative ease and finishes with consistency.  In addition, Jones also has a most solid mid-range jumper.  As a result, he has proven that he can be equally effective at either guard spot.

In a head-to-head matchup versus class of 2012 point guard Antonio "Bobo" Drummond from Peoria Central High School in Peoria, IL, Jones was absolutely superb and played a virtually flawless game in leading his Orr team to victory.  While it is still early from a recruiting standpoint, he has already attracted the attention of the coaching staffs from all of the team camps that he has attended this month (Northern Illinois, Illinois, Northwestern).

There is no question that Jones will project as a high major prospect.  We now have Jones as our #2 ranked player in the state from the 2012 class, ranking just behind 6'0 point guard Keith Carter from Proviso East High School in Maywood, IL and just ahead of Drummond.

Additional Notes

... While other outlets are now saying that there may be some confusion as to whether or not Northern Illinois University has actually offered a scholarship to 6'3 class of 2010 shooting guard Greg Tucker from Lincoln Park High School in Chicago, the confusion does not lie at our end, as we were simply reporting information from sources that we considered to be as close to the situation as they could possibly be.  The bottom line is that the Huskie coaching staff is expressing a high level of interest and if an offer hasn't been officially extended already (as the family says it has) we are willing to bet that it will once Tucker visits the DeKalb campus.

... We are hearing that there is a strong possibility that Larry Butler, the traveling team coach of the Illinois Warriors, may be switching his shoe company allegiance from NIKE to Adidas, as more than one source has told us that he is in the process of seeking Adidas sponsorship and hopes to make the move by the time the July evaluation period arrives.  Butler's Warriors have long been the flagship NIKE program among traveling teams in Illinois.

... Congratulations to Ramon Williams on becoming the new assistant coach at Ohio University.  Williams undoubtedly knows the Chicago area, having been an assistant coach at DePaul University for the past four seasons.  Add in the fact that Ohio U. already has two players from the state of Illinois in the fold as members of their 2009 recruiting class in D.J. Cooper (Seton Academy in South Holland, IL) and James Kinney (Champaign Centennial in Champaign, IL) and we guarantee that both Williams and head coach John Groce will continue to have the Bobcats recruiting heavily throughout the Windy City and the Land of Lincoln.

... We also extend our congratulations to Chris Hollender, who will be leaving his assistant coach posiition at Army to become the new assistant at the University of Evansville.  It will be somewhat of a homecoming for Hollender, who starred as a player for the Purple Aces during the 1990's. 

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