Look for Champaign Central senior Verdell Jones to sign a letter of intent to play basketball for a major university sometime before the middle of next week. Sources close to the situation say Jones has narrowed his college choice to four schools: Minnesota, Arizona, Indiana, and Kentucky. Both Minnesota and Kentucky have been on board with Jones from the start. Indiana and Arizona have jumped into the fray in recent months.

Jones visited Indiana, under new head coach Tom Crean, last weekend. Jones hasn't given any interviews regarding that visit, but reports say it went anywhere from "sup-par to so-so." Not a good sign if you want Jones to end up in Cream and Crimson. Jones will visit the Arizona Wildcats this weekend. If that visit goes well, expect Arizona to be in Jones' final two.

My gut instinct is that if Jones really wanted to go to Minnesota, he would've committed to Tubby's Gophers already. He appears to be waiting around to make that big splash. Arizona freshman Jerryd Bayless recently made the decision to forego his final three seasons of college ball and enter the NBA draft. That opened up an offer for Jones, who appears to be extremely interested.

Jones says he'll sign next week. I expect he'll be a Wildcat... I just don't know if that's a Kentucky Wildcat or an Arizona Wildcat.

We'll keep you posted.