Illinois didn't make the list...but DePaul did?
Not an expert on Mormon matters, but from what I understand, there is no hard requirement that you do a mission, nor is there a specific age/window for doing it if you choose to. Most Mormons do choose to do a mission (although Steve Young and, I believe, Danny Ainge are among those who didn't), and doing so in their college years usually makes sense from a practical standpoint. That is not the case with someone who is on a professional sports fast track, though.
Illinois didn't make the list...but DePaul did?
Actually yeah. Dude you must have been sleeping under a rock on this one. Ha. Just giving you a hard time bud, so don't sweat it.
Back to being serious, Parker said he has not decided yet on the mission. It is a possibility, but so is being a one and done. He seems very serious about his faith, so I would not be shocked if he went on the mission, but I think the pull of the NBA will be strong as well. Especially if he plays his way into the Number 1 pick after his freshman year.
Either way I hope he comes. He is a great kid and appears to be the real deal on the court as well. He would be a great addition to the Duke family.
Interesting read from the Raleigh N&O today:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/07/...gain-this.html
Interesting quote from ol' roy when asked if he was afraid to recruit head-to-head against K:
“I went to freakin’ Ames, Iowa [to recruit Barnes] 11 times and his [butt] went twice,” Williams said. “… Don’t tell me I ain’t going to go head-to-head.”
11 trips to Ames? WTH? That's gotta be some kind of NCAA recruiting violation.
Wonder if any of his players learned to speak Swahili while he was absent so much...
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
Well I'd say that was about 9 visits too many. Glad you got the Black Falcon as it turned out. Congrats, you got one of the most overrated high school ballers to ever to play the game.
But if there wasn't any let's call it "concern vice fear" why make 11 trips if K is only going twice? Maybe fear is not the right word, but you sure were worried about something to make 11 trips to IOWA of all places... now if he lived in Miami or Hawaii maybe I could see an alternative reasons, but Ames Iowa, 11 times... yea, you were sweating it pretty hard.
Any word on his decision to go on his mission or not?
Did anyone notice in his tweet of schools, MSU was in lower case? Don't know about you, but that stood out to me.
Got it...You're not being stupid or dumb; you're just giving your thoughts on this. No worries...I'll leave it to the posters that are more in the know; but you could be right because it's hard to tell what kids his age are thinking. Personally, I don't think you can read too much into any HS kid's tweets unless he or she comes out and verbally commits to a school; and even then it could be a joke (or someone hacked that person's twitter ). The good news is that we should know sooner rather than later where Mr Parker is going if he sticks to what he's said before and commits sometime in November/fall.
Minor injury, but will miss the rest of the AAU circuit:
http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspor...wdown/related/
Article says he played through a stress fracture, tough kid.
I think he is taking the rest of the summer off so he can watch his future coach guide the Olympic team.
Not 100% how credible this is, but an article by Larry Vaught quotes Adam Zagoria (from zagsblog) saying:
"He(Parker) has strong relationships with coaches at Duke and Michigan State. Academics are very important to his family, and that helps Duke,” Zagoria said. “I have even had sources close to Calipari tell me that he believes Duke is the favorite. I honestly don’t think Jabari Parker goes to Kentucky(!!!!!!!!).”
http://www.centralkynews.com/amnews/...,7413728.story
I feel pretty awesome about this if Coach Cal thinks we're gonna get him
And even in the horrible scenario that we don't land him, I'd much rather it be MSU than UK. At least it won't become a complete disaster.
Sounds like we're in excellent shape with him. I don't think it'd be a "horrible scenario" if we don't get him, as our 2013-2014 team is looking awesome already. But man, it's nice to dream.