Terrence Jones Picks UK, Ends Ridiculous Recruiting Saga (With One Caveat)

Two weeks ago we had a post on the possibility that University of Washington commit Terrence Jones would reconsider his decision and attend Kentucky. John Calipari downplayed the whole thing. Who can blame him? Jones had this whole big press conference where he dramatically plucked a Washington hat from a table, which you can see below:↵
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↵Watching that video, you can see just how indecisive Jones was at the time, so it should come as no great shock that Jones changed his mind and picked Kentucky on Wednesday night. (Oh, and all that stuff about staying home, Lorenzo Romar being a father figure and wanting to play with Terrence Ross -- a UW signee -- probably irks Huskies fans a little bit today.)
↵↵So finally, the circus is closing for Jones’ recruitment -- with one little exception. According to Scout.com, which broke the news, Jones will pull the same move that classmate Brandon Knight did at Kentucky. Jones decided to sign financial aid papers rather than a full letter of intent, which leaves Jones the flexibility to bolt without penalty should Calipari wind up with a pro job this summer. The UK coach has denied an interest in jumping to the pros on multiple occasions this offseason, and given that his players aren’t signing LOIs, he’ll have to continue to shoot down these rumors with the same ferocity to reassure them.↵

↵↵So if everyone winds up in Lexington as they’re currently scheduled, how good is Kentucky’s class? According to the Rivals150, they have the following: No. 3 F Enes Kanter, No. 6 G Brandon Knight, No. 13 F Terrence Jones, No. 21 G Doron Lamb, No. 33 F Stacey Poole and highly touted junior college power forward Eloy Vargas. (For what it’s worth, Rivals has Kanter exceptionally high on their boards. Most other places have him in the 20s or 30s.)↵

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↵↵1. Is this the nation’s top recruiting class? Our Brian McLaughlin says no, but he might be in the minority. He’s actually got the Wildcats at No. 3. He likes Ohio State, which has C Jared Sullinger (No. 5), F DeShaun Thomas (No. 22), G Jordan Sibert (No. 39), G Aaron Craft (No. 111), G Lenzelle Smith (No. 132) and F J.D. Weatherspoon (No. 135) all in the Rivals150. That’s incredible depth, but is it better than the stockpile Kentucky wound up with? He also ranks Memphis ahead of UK, which has five players in the top 72 of the Rivals150, including three in the top 18.↵

↵↵2. Is this class better than the one that left everyone drooling at Kentucky last season? John Calipari was quick to jump all over that one last night:↵

↵↵⇥“You can’t compare this class,” Calipari said of trying to say the 2010 class is equal to the 2009 class with four first-round draft picks. “We were fortunate. We filled a lot of needs. We didn’t get everyone we wanted. And we missed as many as we signed. It was hard. And you’ve got to be lucky to have kids available this late again this year.”↵↵One final note on this whole thing: Jones is the second Washington commitment to back out and go to Kentucky in this class (Enes Kanter was the other). And, as pointed out by The Dagger, the two teams are in the Maui Invitational this season. If the two teams match up in Maui, and surely, the organizers will find a way for that to happen, it will be the best early-season game this side of Duke-Michigan State, right?
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↵UPDATE: Had to add this quote from the Oregonian found via ESPN, which is sure to draw the ire of Washington fans.↵↵⇥Why pick Washington in the first place?↵⇥↵⇥“A little bit of just not knowing, being close to home. You can’t go wrong being that close. It was a spur of the moment thing, not really thinking about it. Picking something just because it was there,” Jones said.↵⇥

↵↵↵UPDATE 2: Washington guard Isaiah Thomas jumped in on Twitter to echo our sentiments that we hope the two teams play in Maui:↵

↵↵⇥I hope we play KENTUCKY nxt yr n the Maui classic. All I gotta say is ITS BOUT TO GO DOWN (@KevinHart4real voice) A BARK over a meow ne day ... Ha Im not mad. There no reason I should be mad. I respect Tjones n the wildcats. I jus want 2 play them so please people who hatin fall back↵↵