Jones spending time with summer love

With the end of the school year right around the corner, Dequan Jones has a summer love already. He's not afraid to admit it. The 6-foot-6 wing from Marietta (Ga.) Wheeler High School has been spending a lot of time with his significant other and looking forward to more time this summer.

"That's my girl friend right there," Jones said, pointing to the court after a game at the Wallace Prather Memorial Classic. "I spend as much time with her. I'm trying to get better."

Jones's relationship on the hardwood is getting serious. On Saturday, he was one of the top performers at the Prather Memorial. He crashed the boards, knocked down shots and provided an athletic spark for his Worldwide Renegades club.

Jones said he is putting in the time to improve himself as a basketball player since finishing the high school season.

"With ball handling, I've been working hard on it. Every practice, I've spent an extra hour on it and working with that. Then after I've been working on that, I've learned that when you handle the ball it comes with being confident and being at ease," he said. "That is the same thing with my shot. I've been working on being consistent."

Recruiting has been consistently busy, Jones says. A number of high-majors have made him a priority in the class of 2008.

"After the King James tournament, colleges just been bomb rushing me," Jones said. "I've been getting text messages, letters, phone calls. It's been crazy. But the thing is, I haven't even really considered what conference I'll be playing in or what school I'm looking at the hardest. A lot of schools are coming at me hard but I'm trying to figure it out still."

Oregon, Cincinnati, Arkansas, Clemson, DePaul, Florida State and Florida have all made a strong push for his commitment. Jones is claiming offers from all of the listed schools. However, he wants to slow things down a little as he heads into the July evaluation period.

"After (April), I'm reevaluating. I'm seeing who is going to come at me," Jones said. "A little longer down the road I'm going to start seeing what program has this or what program has that. I'm weighing the pros and cons.

"How big of an impact will I have coming in as a freshman? Of course, if I have a big impact with that team, then the playing time will take care of itself. It's about how successful the program is and where do I fit into all of that."

Jones has a busy summer ahead of him. He tips off a busy individual camp circuit in June with a trip to Los Angeles for the Pangos All-American camp. Later in the month he'll participate in the NBA Players Association camp and start July off at the Rbk U camp.