Singler Narrowing Down Choices

As Team Jones moves on from their successful spring on the AAU circuit and head into the heavy evaluation month of July, E.J. Singler, their 6-foot-6 do-it-all forward won't necessarily be looking to add more schools to his list, but instead try to sway the minds of the staffs already looking at him.

His Team Jones squad is competing at the 8th annual Rose City Showcase, and following an 80-64 first round win over Portland Legends, the South Medford rising senior took time to give his thoughts on Washington State, Oregon and Stanford- the three schools sitting atop his list.

"The main thing that I like about Washington State is their coaching staff," Singler said. "They have a terrific young staff and I really like the way that they play. Their offense is really good and they play terrific defense, too. But also, their coaching staff gets the players to play with an underdog mentality, which is appealing to me."

In discussions with Wazzu head coach Tony Bennett and his staff, Singler noted that talks have started including a scholarship offer.

"Right now they're trying to evaluate and see whether or not they need to try and get a post player," Singler said. "If not, they said that I'm their number one guy. So hopefully an offer could be coming soon.

He had originally planned on making a trip up to Pullman to visit the campus and attend the Cougars' elite camp, but Singler has decided to wait until later on in the summer to trip to the Washington State campus.

"The facilities down in Eugene are obviously top of the line and they really look after their student-athletes," Singler said when discussing the University of Oregon. "I also have a lot of connections with the university and the program. Not only is it an in-state school, but also I have a good friend in (assistant coach) Josh Jamieson and (former Team Jones teammate) Garrett Sim is going to be down there next year."

"Obviously they have great education at Stanford," Singler said. "Really that's what the school is known for. I don't really know the new staff at Stanford except for the head coach Johnny Dawkins, but they said they'll run stuff pretty similar to what was run at Duke. But it's a great place to be at; they have a great campus, beautiful weather, and good facilities."

While EJ noted that he's only talked to Dawkins once since he took over at Stanford, his heavily recruited older brother, Kyle, has had nothing but glowing remarks about the former Duke assistant.

While Singler will be playing the waiting game in anticipation of receiving a scholarship offer, he'll be staying plenty busy for the remainder of the summer.

"I just competed in the Nike football combine in Eugene last weekend, which went real well," Singler said. "When July hits we have a busy summer with basketball and then August is the start of high school football for me."

With such a busy schedule of both football and basketball events, Singler said that he hasn't made a definite decision to which sport he'll be playing collegiately, but did say he's leaning towards basketball.

It just changes from month-to-month and day-to-day," Singler said. "Until I start getting some higher level offers, I can't really pick."