Jayson Tatum, the five-star guard out of Chaminade Prep (MO), is down to two schools, although he hasn’t publicly revealed which two, according to a report from KMOV in St. Louis.
Officially, the 6-foot-8 small forward is considering Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and hometown St. Louis.
“A lot of people (say to me) ‘SLU? Really?’ I’m dead serious about it,” Tatum told Brian Feldman of KMOV.
“I know how much it would mean for my family and for the city of St. Louis if someone my caliber of talent were to stay home and play for SLU. It’d be a big deal,” Tatum said.
Feldman also suggested that he thinks Duke and St. Louis could be the final two under consideration.
“Reading between the lines, Tatum talked a ton about SLU and Duke,” Feldman wrote. “He cited concern over North Carolina’s pending academic issues with the NCAA. Many who follow the situation strongly believe Tatum is deciding between staying home (and being a Billiken) and going to play for Duke and legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski.”
Tatum has already taken an official visit to Duke for their game against Syracuse this spring.
“I enjoyed my official visit there,” he told SNY.tv recently. “I had a good time, and I got to watch a really good game. They’ve been recruiting me extremely hard.”
“I can honestly say it exceeded my expectations. I went in there wondering how crazy it was gonna be because of everything I heard about their fans and things like that and it was better than people said…I would definitely give the visit a 10 out of 10,” he wrote on his USA Today blog following the visit.
Tatum has also visited Kentucky twice, both times unofficially.
“Coach Cal’s a great coach and he has great assistants,” he told SNY.tv. “I have a great relationship with their coaches. They offered me back when I was a freshman and have been recruiting me hard ever since then.”
Tatum told SNY.tv he hasn’t picked a date for his decision.
“I don’t have a timeline for my decision or visits,” he said. “I’m not sure when I’ll take officials to Kentucky or North Carolina, but I’m sure I’ll get to those. I don’t know yet if I’ll take an official visit to Saint Louis because I’ve been there so many times.”
Tatum said that he’ll commit to “wherever [he’s] most comfortable,” but also noted the style of play he hopes to participate in at the next level.
“I mean I’ll play wherever coach needs me and where I can help the team out. I don’t have a preferred system or role,” he said. “But I do like getting up and down, and I think that fits me well. I also like playing a lot of pick-and-roll.”
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