Tyus Jones has seven schools remaining on his list, but only has one official set up at the moment.
“I’m taking Baylor at the end of August and that will be my first one so, I’m planning on doing them all in the fall,” the star point guard from Apple Valley (MN) told the Star Tribune.
Jones is also considering Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio State, Michigan State and Minnesota.
Four of those six will get officials and Jones conceded it will be difficult to choose which two do not.
“It definitely will,” he said. “It definitely will for the six left. All seven of them are great programs, and the six left, I’ve got good relationships with all the schools on the list, so it will be tough not being able to go to two of them.”
Jones and Chicago big man Jahlil Okafor are planning on picking the same school and both players are considering Baylor, Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, Michigan State and Ohio State.
The 6-foot-11, 270-pound Okafor is not considering Minnesota, Jones’ home-state school, and Jones is not considering North Carolina or Louisville, which are on Okafor’s list.
“Every school knows that me and Jahlil would like to attend the same school,” Jones recently told MaxPreps.com.
Minnesota is only about 20 miles from Jones’ house and he doesn’t feel the need to take an official there.
“I’ve already spent a lot of time on the campus, so I don’t know if I’ll take an official just because I’m on campus a lot already as it is and I’ve seen everything and it’s right down the street, so I don’t know if I’ll take an official there, so we’ll have to see,” he said.
New Minnesota coach Richard Pitino and his staff have made Jones — as well as fellow Minnesota native Rashad Vaughn — top priorities since taking over.
“He talked to me the same night he got the job, and I’ve just been talking to him every so often, just trying to build a relationship with him,” Jone said. “It’s just a fresh start – it’s a little later than other schools, but I’m still considering them and just building a relationship and going from there.”
He added of Pitino: “Coach Pitino is talking about their style of play, they’re more up and down and they’re going to get out and run and press and they’re going to be up in your face on defense, so it’s just a little bit different of a style of play, so they’re talking about different stuff with coach Pitino than with coach [Tubby] Smith.”
The Star Tribune reported that Jones leads the Nike EYBL circuit in scoring (23.2), assists (6.8), steals (3) and minutes (30.8) a game through the first three sessions.
