By CHIP MILLER
Lexington, Ky. — Five-star combo guard De’Aaron Fox and his Houston Hoops team currently sit on top of the C Division in the Nike EYBL tour with a 7-1 record, their only loss coming to the PSA Cardinals, 66-63.
“It was a tough game,” the 6-foot-3 2016 guard from Katy (TX) Cypress Lakes said last weekend. “A couple of calls didn’t go our way and we missed a lot of gimmes. I think that really decided the game.”
On the EYBL tour, Fox is averaging 13.2 points, 6.8 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game. Despite solid numbers, Fox says he has some high expectations for the summer.
“I want to be the MVP of the EYBL and win a championship,” Fox said emphatically. “I want to show coaches that I can lead any type of team. I’ve played with three different teams in the EYBL and I think we are just getting better and better.”
And coaches are taking notice. New Texas head man Shaka Smart wasted no time in calling to let Fox know he was more than interested.
“It was his second day in the office [when] he actually called me,” Fox said with a smile. “They had offered before, but Coach Smart just wanted me to know they were still recruiting me. I was the main priority and he was offering me first.”
Fox said this was his first time speaking with Coach Smart. Despite that, Fox said he was very familiar with Smart’s preferred style of play and it’s something that stands out.
“I never talked with him,” Fox said. “They didn’t recruit me when he was at VCU but I love their style of play. That’s how I love to play, getting up and down. When they made it that year to the Final Four, that’s when they really got on my radar and I really started watching them.”
Smart’s interest paid off with an unofficial visit from Fox in mid-April, a visit where Fox and Smart both experienced a first, according to Fox.
“It was great,” Fox stated. “Really, when I went there it was usually for games and I never toured the campus. It was his and my first time going around the campus. I really enjoyed it with him. I’m just building a relationship with him since he’s a new coach in a new state.”
When it comes to schools making contact, Fox says three programs are consistently showing up on his phone.
“Texas, Baylor and Kansas are showing up the most,” Fox said.
Fox has unofficially visited all three of those campuses and spoke highly of Kansas and their head man Bill Self, who Fox said is one of four head coaches that he speaks with the most.
“Coach Self, he’s a winner,” Fox said. “No matter what team he has been with. The last 11 years, they’ve either won their conference championship or tied. So I just love that he’s a winner and he’s really getting guys to the league right now.”
Fox told SNY.tv he currently holds offers from Kansas, Kansas State, Arizona, Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, NC State, Arkansas and Houston with interest from Louisville, LSU and Florida.
Asked what impressed him about Sean Miller and Arizona.
“Their style of play,” Fox stated. “No matter what team he’s been with, he’s been able to reach Elite 8 year after year.”
Arkansas is another school that plays a style of ball that Fox likes, but it’s not necessarily the style that impresses Fox the most.
“They’re really just like VCU except the way they train is ridiculous,” Fox said. “They have the oxygen mask and I think he [Mike Anderson] gets you into shape. If you want to go to a school that’s going to get you in shape and get you NBA ready, as in body-wise, that’s really the school to go to and I love their style of play.”
Despite the plethora of Division 1 offers Fox currently holds, there is one offer that he would love to receive.
“I have really been talking to Louisville a lot and I’d really like to receive an offer,” Fox reported. “I like the way they play, their guards have a lot of freedom.”
Coach Rick Pitino made personal contact with Fox and had a simple message for him when it comes to the Cardinals.
“Watch the way we play,” Pitino told Fox. “Chris Jones got kicked off the team, but before he did, the way they had Peyton Siva and Russ Smith and the way they played. [Pitino] just wants me to know if I come in, that’s the way I can play and that the point guard really runs the team.”
Other than Shaka Smart, Fox says that he speaks with Arizona’s Miller, Kansas’ Self and Scott Drew from Baylor “the most.”
With all five official visits left to take, Fox says he is in no hurry when it comes to moving along in the process of an eventual decision.
“I don’t really have a time when I am going to cut down and commit,” Fox stated. “First I had one towards the end of summer, but I think that recruiting is really picking up and I’m just taking my time now.”
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