In one of the weirdest recruiting sagas in recent memory, elite level, Top 10 recruit Terrence Jones officially declared himself to play for the University of Kentucky. As the last remaining top tier recruit still undecided, Jones decided not to play alongside high school teammate and longtime friend Terrence Ross, who had already committed to the University of Washington.
Jones’ decision was a long time coming since he originally held a press conference nearly three weeks ago to announce that he would be playing collegiately for the Washington Huskies along with Ross, who is another elite level prospect in his own right. Both players starred for Jefferson HS in Oregon. But in a stunning turn of events, and after reportedly speaking with Kentucky head coach John Calipari only minutes after his original decision, Jones left the press conference without signing a Letter of Intent. Reports of the phone call sparked tons of internet speculation that coach Cal was using all of his powers to persuade Jones to help to fill out another outstanding recruiting class for the Wildcats in 2010. Then finally after 2 weeks of soul searching, Jones has officially declared for Kentucky, but signed a financial aid agreement instead of a LOI, which allows him to leave UK if Calipari should bolt for the NBA.
Calipari and the Wildcats were facing an uncertain future when 4 freshmen(Wall, Cousins, Bledsoe, and Orton), and junior Patrick Patterson all decided to enter the upcoming NBA Draft, until Cal once again assembled possibly the #1 rated recruiting class for the 2nd year in a row. Adding Jones(#9 overall) to an already potent line-up of recruits with the likes of Brandon Knight(#4 overall, #2 PG), big man Enes Kanter(#25 overall), SG Doron Lamb(#29 overall), Stacey Poole(#51 overall), and the recently committed JUCO big man Eloy Vargas, who played one season at Florida, is icing on the cake for the Wildcats. Even though next year’s crop will be even younger, they have a chance to be a more complete team with the likes of pure shooters Lamb and Poole.
Terrence Jones is regarded as a Top 10 talent in every major scouting service and at 6’9 and 230 lbs, has been compared to the enigmatic Lamar Odom at the next level. He is the next in a long line of hybrid power forwards who can play upwards of 4 different positions on the floor. He has an extremely long wingspan and is capable of developing into an elite level defender as well. He could be a triple double just waiting to happen because of his unique skill-set and has been known to pull off 360 dunks in live game action. But his most impressive asset is that of being a winner since he helped lead his HS team to 3 Oregon State titles and was named the 5A Oregon Player of the Year two times.
Interestingly enough, Jones is the 2nd recruit that Calipari pulled away fro the Washington program this off-season. International phenom Enes Kanter also originally committed to play for the Huskies before defecting to Kentucky. I’m not sure if a rivalry between coaches or program is in the works, but the two programs do have the chance to play against each other since they are both in the field of the 2010 preseason Maui Invitational Tournament. Good luck Lorenzo Romar.
Check out a Terrence Jones highlight mixtape from last Summer:
Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.
