The Terrence Jones saga just won’t end.
Shortly after signing financial aid papers to attend the University of Kentucky, the top basketball recruit/commitment-phobe told The Oregonian that he is “95 percent” certain he will end up at UK, adding that he’ll re-consider if Wildcats coach John Calipari takes a job in the NBA.
Calipari has shot down rumors of his joining an NBA team in the coming weeks, but the talk has heated up because of his friendship wit prized free agent LeBron James. The Chicago Bulls are one team looking for a coach and go-to player, so Calipari’s name has been linked to that job.
Jones signed the non-binding agreement with Kentucky late Wednesday night, which was the deadline for recruits to sign letters of intent. He had announced in a press conference three weeks earlier that the University of Washington had been his college choice, only to back out of that commitment.
The 6-foot-9 Jones, a Portland native, is a top-15 national recruit and was considered the best unsigned recruit heading into Wednesday’s deadline.
In an interview with KJR radio Thursday morning, UW coach Lorenzo Romar said he was ready to move on.
“The way I see it, it’s done,” he told the radio station. “Guys make their decision, and you move on. I’m still excited about the guys we have coming here.”
In typical Romar fashion, he handled the interview with class, refusing to say anything negative about Jones’s decision but saying of the entire saga: “This situation, in its entirety, is as unique a one as I’ve been in.”
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