Tyus Jones And The Rise Of Basketball In Minnesota

Duke has recruited well in Minnesota recently: Matthew Hurt came from Rochester, Minnesota while Gary Trent, Tre Jones and his older brother Tyus all came to Duke from Apple Valley (they all three attended Apple Valley High).

When he was at Duke, we thought that Tyus was unbelievably smart, something which this tends to back up.

Basketball in Minnesota has really improved in recent years and the elder Jones is doing his best to keep that momentum.

Among other things, he’s been working with the Twin Cities pro-am during the summers. He owns, manages and coaches Team Tyus, and his team won this time around.

For his part, Jones sees the growth of basketball in Minnesota and had this to say: “It’s turned into something great, something bigger than I think even what [anyone] anticipated. But man, it’s so much fun to see. Minnesota, we’re always slept on as a basketball state, but the fans enjoy basketball, enjoy getting out to see basketball. So, when it’s run the right way, like it has been, the talent is there, people are going to come out and watch. It’s going to be cool to see how it continues to grow.”

With talent like the Blue Devils mentioned above, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Suggs and Paige Bueckers, the state’s roundball profile continues to rise. It’s nice to see Jones adding to it.