Top sophomore picks up Arizona offer
Torren Jones hasn't even started his sophomore basketball season but one Pac-10 school has already verbally offered and many other national programs are involved.
Arizona has extended an offer to Jones, a 6-foot-8, 200-pound power forward from Chandler (Ariz.) Basha, according to AAU coach Ray Arvizu and every school in the Pac-10 excluding Arizona State has been in touch. Indiana, Memphis, West Virginia and Boston College are also showing early interest.
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"Torren Jones has an official offer from U of A," Arvizu said. "Coaches have come down to watch him work out. There's not much they can do because he's still so young but there is hard interest from lots of schools.
"As the season goes on he'll have more come through but those are the ones that have been real hard on him, that have gotten a chance to watch him play during the live period and heard about him at EYBL and the accolades he got from NIKE."
Arvizu said Jones, a four-star prospect by Rivals.com, should be projected as the top 2013 recruit in Arizona. He averaged about 8-10 points and 10 rebounds at the NIKE Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) this spring in Los Angeles.
Jones is multi-talented and Arvizu said there is lots of potential left. The sophomore standout is good in the open court, can play multiple positions and can score and rebound at the elite level.
As he continues to progress, even more schools could get involved in his recruitment. Arizona has jumped out early with an offer but many more could follow because Jones is just that skilled.
"He's got a tremendous amount of potential," Arvizu said. "He's 6-8, athletic as they get, runs the floor like a guard, can put it on the deck pretty well, has a good back-to-the-basket game now and in the open court he's deadly.
"He's hard to stop. He's one of those kids that can jump from one side of the block and dunk reverse. He can dunk both right- and left-handed off both feet. He is an extremely athletic kid who's long and lanky.
"The best thing about him is he just has so much potential. Skill-wise he's really good, he's not a point guard per se but from the wing he can get to the basket and his court awareness is really good. He can dominate the glass. He did at the elite level."