The Oregonian produced this insightful video on Portland standout Terrence Jones, who is on the eve of announcing where he'll play basketball next season.

He had good reasons for picking April 30th as the day to announce his college choice.

While prolonging his recruiting with Washington, Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, Oregon and Oklahoma, he was able to gain more information about the recruiting process to make an informed decision. The extra time allowed him to make an official visit to Lawrence, Kansas and determine where another standout recruit, C.J. Leslie, was going to college.

Leslie decided to play at North Carolina State, which perhaps makes Kentucky's offer more sweeter to Jones.

Delaying his announcement also allows Jones to dominate the national recruiting stage for the next two days. He's rated the No.9 senior by ESPNU and he's the top unsigned recruit in the country.

But anyone who thinks Jones is starved for media attention is mistaken. He's not someone who craves the limelight. In fact, delaying his college announcement has allowed high school teammates to gain some exposure.

While Jones is the headliner for Friday's news conference at Jefferson High, four Democrats will pick a college before a horde of media and onlookers.

Among the recruits will be Terrence Ross, who is expected to place a purple baseball cap on his head and choose UW. The other recruits include Stephen Madison, a first-team all-state choice who committed to Idaho, and Antoine Hosley, who is expected to .

Jefferson coach Pat Strickland told me "all of this may look like it's about Terrence (Jones), but it's not. He's doing this for his teammates as much as anything. Terrence is a basketball player. ... But he's starting to understand, he has a little platform and he can help people and bring more light and attention to others."

THURSDAY MORNING LINKS:

--- Here's our story on the Jones-Ross news conference. I described Friday as potentially one of the biggest days in UW basketball recruiting history.

If the Huskies land both Portland recruits, only the 2006 class of Spencer Hawes, Quincy Pondexter, Adrian Oliver and Phil Nelson would surpass this group that also includes 7-foot Aziz N'Diaye and 6-7 forward Desmond Simmons.

--- Oregonian contributor Nick Daschel has followed Jones' recruitment very closely and he writes: "If Jones knows, he is keeping it a tightly guarded secret."

--- The Arizona Republic reports new Oregon coach Dana Altman was nearly the Arizona Sun Devils head coach.

--- It's a little dated, but Will Conroy is a champion. The former UW star helped the Rio Grande Vipers defeat Tulsa 2-0 to win the NBA D-League title on Tuesday. During the thrilling conclusion, a 94-91 victory, Conroy set up a game-winning, last-second shot (below) with a timely assist. He finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists after recording a triple double (14 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists) in Game 1.