The Jones Family mailbox is a popular destination for hand written letters from some of the nation’s top basketball coaches.
Tyus Jones, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound senior point guard from Apple Valley (MN) High helped the Howard Pulley AAU program to the title in the Super Showcase in Orlando this past weekend, Jones, who is ranked as the number three prospect in the Class of 2014 according to ESPN, is a key recruit for his final list of seven programs, which includes Minnesota.
GopherHole.com caught up with Jones Thursday to learn the latest on his AAU season and his recruitment.
Gopher Hole: What was the feeling like winning the Super Showcase down in Orlando?
Tyus Jones: It was a great feeling. To go out in your last tournament and be able to win it was great, especially after the Peach Jam. We didn’t do as well as we would have liked. We wanted to redeem ourselves and personally with it being my last AAU tournament, it felt great to win it.
Gopher Hole: E1T1 was a team that had beat you by 20 points in the Peach Jam and was originally selected to play you on ESPN2 before you were given a different opening opponent. That had to make it even sweeter to beat a team that had won 21 straight games and had won the Peach Jam.
Tyus Jones: Definitely. They won the Peach Jam, so that in itself tells you how good that team is, so for us to play well and beat them, it was good.
Gopher Hole: You had a lot of the coaches from the seven schools that are still recruiting down at the Super Showcase. What was the reaction of seeing all those faces down there?
Tyus Jones: It is the same that it has been throughout the recruiting process. The coaches were there watching games, but I was more focused on winning the tournament and just playing and enjoying my last AAU tournament.
Gopher Hole: Now that you are done with AAU, have you thought about taking some visits?
Tyus Jones: I still haven’t gotten any further other than Baylor. That is the only one.
Gopher Hole: When is that one going to be?
Tyus Jones: That is the end of August. The last week of August
Gopher Hole: Is that going to be an official visit?
Tyus Jones: It is.
Gopher Hole: For their opening football game (they face Wofford on August 31st)?
Tyus Jones: Yes.
Gopher Hole: What other schools do you think that you definitely want to visit?
Tyus Jones: Don’t know yet. Don’t know yet. It will be hard to cut out a couple of schools, but I’ll have to do it.
Gopher Hole: Are you planning on taking all five official visits?
Tyus Jones: Planning on it.
Gopher Hole: What about Minnesota? Where do they fit in the mix right now?
Tyus Jones: I have still been talking to their coaches. Talking to them about taking an official. Don’t know how the officials work with it being local and stuff like that, but I have been talking to their coaches a lot.
Gopher Hole: Any thought on how you are going to announce your school?
Tyus Jones: Haven’t decided yet. There is a lot of different options. We haven’t decided. We’ll think about it when it gets closer to that time.
Gopher Hole: What are the possibilities? Have you even thought about that?
Tyus Jones: Not a lot, Just been focusing on getting to the decision.
Gopher Hole: What about your high school team? I know that you played in St. Michael-Albertville in the Breakdown Summer Series and won that tournament Wednesday and you are playing in St. Ben’s this weekend. I know that you haven’t had a chance to play with a lot your high school team, but what is the feeling getting back together with those guys?
Tyus Jones: It was a good feeling. Getting back together with them. I am excited for this upcoming season. We played well yesterday, so I am looking forward to this weekend and hopefully, continuing to play some good basketball.