Starting Five: Jones cuts list
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Fast-rising combo guard Andrew Jones has trimmed his list. Who is in contention? We discuss that and more in this week's edition of the Starting Five.
Fast-rising Jones down to seven
Six-foot-4 combo guard Andrew Jones, one of 2016's fastest-rising players, announced he's down to seven potential schools.
The product of Irving (Texas) McArthur was recently elevated to four-star status and inserted in the Rivals150 at No. 62 thanks to Nolan Narain electing to enroll at San Diego State as a member of the class of 2015. More than likely, Jones will climb even higher when the rankings get a full update.
In hopes of making his college decision easier, Jones recently embarked on an unofficial visit binge that saw him make stops at Arizona, Baylor (where his sister Alexis is on the women's team), Texas, Texas A&M and Louisville. Those five all survived his lists cut to seven and they are joined by Oklahoma State and SMU.
According to Jones, he next wants to set official visits and for now the plan is to take his time and not make a decision until sometime during his senior season.
No shortage of interest for Long
One of the stronger two guards in the class of 2016, powerful Jakolby Long from Mustang (Okla.) High isn't lacking for options.
Though the 6-foot-4 senior is built like a football player and has played the sport in the past, he's fully dedicated to playing hoop on the college level.
Built for contact, Long also like to let it fly from deep and can put points on the board in a hurry when he gets hot. Since the summer ended, Long has added offers from Texas Tech, South Carolina, Georgia and DePaul.
Long took a summer unofficial visit to Arizona State and others who have reached out recently include Iowa State, Colorado, Miami and New Mexico. Others that have offered earlier include Houston, Kansas State, Missouri, Ole Miss and Oklahoma State. Look for him to set official visits in the near future.
Quickly gaining notoriety
The city of Baltimore is always pumping out talent and it looks like 2018's Immanuel Quickley is the next name that fans need to familiarize themselves with.
A 6-foot-4 point guard from Bel Air (Md.) John Carroll, Quickley turned heads with his summer play for Baltimore Elite. He has terrific size for the position, is a good athlete and has terrific instincts off the dribble.
Mick Cronin and Cincinatti was the first program to step up with an offer and Rhode Island recently offered as well. Quickley saw Duke in the summer and the Blue Devils, along with others like Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Washington, Villanova, Syracuse, Clemson and N.C. State have expressed interest in evaluating him.
What's next for Fultz
There can't be many prospects in the class of 2016 who have been more busy working their way to a decision than five-star shooting guard Markelle Fultz.
After taking an official visit to Louisville the previous week, Fultz knocked out visits to Arizona and Washington last week.
The first of the two visits for the 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha was Arizona. According to his trainer Keith Williams, the trip gave Fultz a good chance to get to know Sean Miller a bit better.
"They have a beautiful campus and he enjoyed watching practice," Williams said. "He's close with (assistant) coach Book Richardson."
After finishing up in Tucson, it was on to Seattle. Lorenzo Romar and the Huskies were one of the first high major programs on Fultz and they made their pitch while he got to know potential teammates.
"He watched film on how he would be used," said Williams. "He became fast friends with with Dejounte Murray."
Now the big question is whether or not Fultz will schedule additional official visits or make a decision. He's seen some of the other involved programs like Kentucky and Maryland unofficially so he doesn't necessarily have to take any other visits.
Williams said that there is no set timetable and that the first order of business will be for Fultz to sit down with those around him, discuss how he's feeling about his recruitment and then go from there.
Crutcher makes waves in Memphis
Memphis Magic summer coach Eric "Cowboy" Robinson tells Rivals that he has a good one in 6-foot-3 point guard Jalen Crutcher.
Already rated as a three-star prospect by Rivals.com after we saw him in July, Crutcher is somebody Robinson thinks is on the verge of making the jump from mid- to high-major prospect.
Crutcher gets to the rim, scores well from the perimeter and can play as a setup guy or a primary scorer. He has good size and length and a body that he can grow into as he moves down the road.
Currently, Crutcher has offers from Missouri State, SEMO, Cal-State Bakersfield, Chatanooga and Austin Peay. However, Florida, Ole Miss, Louisiana Tech, Southern Illinois, Memphis and LSU have indicated that they will be tracking his progress during the 2015-16 season.
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