Boo Williams, Huntington Prep guard Curtis Jones talks Indiana
Indiana added two players from the Boo Williams AAU program over the past couple years — Troy Williams in 2013 and Robert Johnson in 2014. Thomas Bryant of Huntington Prep, a potentially transformative piece, committed this year.
In 2016, the program is looking to add a player with ties to both of those programs.
Curtis Jones, a 6-foot-3, 170 pound guard who played for Boo Williams in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) and with Bryant last season at Huntington, visited Bloomington unofficially last month.
“It was great,” Jones told Inside the Hall on Wednesday night at the Nike Global Challenge at Whitney Young High School in Chicago. “I got to see the campus, talk to the coaches and get a feel for the players.”
Both Tom Crean and assistant coach Rob Judson were in Chicago on Wednesday evening to watch Jones and several other targets participating in the Global Challenge to begin the second July evaluation period.
Last week, IU watched Jones at the Under Armour All-American Camp in Charlotte and the staff is again expected to watch him next week as he’ll be in Louisville with Boo Williams for the AAU Super Showcase.
Jones, who averaged 15.3 points, 3.9 assists and three rebounds per game at Huntington Prep as a junior, said potentially reuniting with Bryant in Bloomington next season is an intriguing idea.
“He’s a great teammate,” he said of the McDonald’s All-American forward. “So going to play with him would make it better because he’s a great big.”
In addition to the heavy interest from Indiana, Jones reeled off Georgetown, Florida, Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Wake Forest and Penn State as the schools involved with his recruitment at this point.
And while he noted he’s not particularly close with Troy Williams, the nephew of Boo, his relationship with another IU player is strong.
“I know Rob Johnson real well,” he said. “I’m friends with his little brother (Malik). We talk about how Tom Crean develops players, their system and things like that.”
The next step in the process for Jones, the No. 59 player in the 247Composite, will be setting up official visits. He said Indiana is in line to get one of those coveted trips.
“Most likely during the fall,” Jones said when asked about the potential for his next stop at Indiana for a more in-depth look at the program.
(Photo credit: Ned Dishman/Under Armour)
Filed to: Curtis Jones