Update on . . . Jayon James

Jayon James, a 6'5 sophomore swingman for Paterson Catholic (NJ), is a member of the high-powered Playaz Basketball Club (NJ) U-16 squad that has been making some noise on the AAU circuit this season. Early last week, I caught up with Jayon, and we discussed his recruitment and his status as a member of the Playaz. James informed me that he is being recruited by "Xavier, Fordham, Rhode Island, Seton Hall, La Salle, [and] Rutgers," adding "that's all of the schools that I know about so far." The highly-regarded class of 2010 baller said that "all of them offered," and stated that he does "not have a leader at the moment." It appears, from that list, that Jayon will likely end up in the Atlantic-10 or the Big East. There had been some rumors circulating that some of the Playaz U-16 ballers were considering switching to other programs, so I inquired of Jayon the validity of these rumors, first asking him if he planned on leaving the Playaz: "I'm not leaving the Playaz any time soon." I then asked if he knew whether anyone else such as Fuquan Edwin was contemplating a switch: "[No], none of us are leaving this year." That comment, with the "this year" on the end, left the door open for future years, and I thus asked James about the possibility of some of his teammates moving around next season: "Not that I know of." Should the Playaz U-16 team stay intact, and it appears they will,the squad will continue to wreak havoc on the grassroots basketball scene.