The latest on Terrence Jones

We just can't get away from this Terrence Jones soap opera.

In case you have forgotten, Jones held a joint press conference with teammate Terrence Ross on Friday during which he orally committed to Washington. Ross signed a letter of intent, but Jones did not. After the presser was over, Jones spoke with John Calipari on the phone -- as far as I know, it is still not known whether Jones called Cal or Cal called Jones -- which led many to speculate that Jones had yet to actually decide on where he wanted to play his collegiate basketball. (Our full write-up from Saturday can be found here.)

Yesterday, Lorenzo Romar held a press conference. He talked a bit about Ross -- "Fired up that we got Terrence Ross," Romar said. "Just ecstatic. Emotionally with Terrence Ross, really excited." -- but as NCAA rules stipulate a coach cannot comment on a recruit until he is officially signed to an LOI, he could not comment on Jones.

He did concede that he would "like to add one more piece" as UW still has one scholarship available. Romar also commented on recruiting a kid once he has committed to another institution, saying "Once they say, 'I’m going to another school,' (we) wish you the best."

Perhaps the more noteworthy quotes came from Terrence Ross, who had an interview with 950 KJR:

[Calipari]'s very persuasive for a coach. He kind of sounds like an agent or somebody like that.
...
He's still trying to recruit him, which is kind of weird to me. I don't know why he would do that to a kid, but he's going to do what he wants to do.

It doesn't take a genius to infer that Jones is still extremely torn about his decision, and based on the tone of the quotes from Ross, one can infer that Coach Cal is still trying to sell Kentucky to Jones.

Coach Cal addressed the issue briefly in a news conference on Monday (quotes from the video below).

"If (a player) made a verbal commitment, I will, that's, for me ... we just, layoff until there's someone ... the kid publicly says now I've decommitted, which has happened before. If they decommit, but I would not, if he's committed to a school, then I would not ..."

Why?

"That's just how I am. I don't think it's what you should do. There's no rule against it. There's no law against it if someone did do it. I just don't do it."



Its really easy to pin the blame on Calipari in this situation, but as I said earlier, we still have no idea who initiated the contact between Cal and Jones. Jones has not signed a letter of intent, and if he is still calling the Kentucky head coach and is still showing interest in heading to Lexington, is Cal going to ignore those calls? Jones is a consensus top 20 recruit, a versatile 6'9" forward that will make an immediate impact wherever he ends up playing his college ball.

Its also difficult to pin the blame on Jones. This is a high school senior that is making the most important decision on his life. If its true that Jones went into that news conference without having made a decision, wouldn't you expect him to make the choice that would please his friends, family, teammate, and the rest of the pro-Washington crowd in attendance for the news conference? And if he did make the choice based on pleasing the people around him, isn't it possible that he would feel as if the decision he made wasn't heartfelt?

Jones is in a tough spot, and the scrutiny he is likely getting from fanbases, coaching staffs, and the media likely doesn't make things any easier.

I think signing an LOI is the dumbest thing a recruit can do, but in Jones' case, he might want to think about doing it.

At least it will put this thing to rest.