Both Kentucky coach John Calipari and Louisville coach Rick Pitino were on Thursday to watch Chicago Simeon star Jabari Parker and his Chicago Simeon team beat Jahlil Okafor and Whitney Young.
Considered by some the top prospect in America regardless of class, Parker had 15 points, nine rebounds and four blocks to help Simeon win, 62-55, at the UIC Pavilion.
Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose, who played at Simeon and then for Calipari at Memphis, was also on hand.
Parker, a 6-foot-7 junior small forward, is being courted by  Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State, Kansas and Illinois, among others.
Okafor, a 6-10 sophomore, tallied 20 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.
He told Harrison Sanford of FiveStarBasketball.com, he likes Duke, Arizona, Michigan State and Illinois.
“I wouldn’t say they [Duke and Arizona] impress me the most,” Okafor said. “But they definitely impressed me along with Michigan State. I really like Tom Izzo, and also Illinois.”
Photo: Scott Powers, ESPNChicago.com
fearthephog25 / December 25, 2011
UW Huskies lead in the recruitment of Jabari a 6-foot-8, 220-pound high flyer. Parker’s father, Sonny, played for the Golden State Warriors with Huskie’s Coach Lorenzo Romar.
/
fearthephog25 / December 25, 2011
University of Washington is the leader for Jabari Parker and Aaron Gordon.
/
UofA BJ / December 25, 2011
Gordon is on record saying UW and UofA r his top 2.
Him and Jabari Parker won’t both go there.
/
fearthephog25 / December 25, 2011
arizona is stacked with talent, remember? They don’t need either of them. How are the other wildcats doing this season anyway? Im sure miller is doing a great job.
/
UofA BJ / December 25, 2011
They r improving every game. They r way under sized and can’t compete with teams with quality size. But PAC 12 Is so weak I think they will win it. They lose Solomon hill and Kevin parrom next year and Aaron Gordon and Jabari bird are their main targets 4 that class. Both have said they like UW and ZONA best.
How’s KU ? I saw them get beat by davidson the other night.
/
fearthephog25 / December 25, 2011
Sadly Kansas has trouble defending streaky 3 ball shooters and Bill Self is never the type to go zone. But we are far better off than arizona with a lot less talent. Quality coaching, what can you say? Pac 12 has always been weak and their officiating is very questionable. Everything is a sissy foul, we from the Big 12 Bruiser Conference where big bangers lose teeth. They tried to keep USC in it as long as possible. LOL I can guarantee you arizona will not win a very weak Pac 12. Stanford looks a lot better tha arizona. LOL I believe they took Cuse to the wire. And when Huskies decide to play as a team, its all over. They will win the Pac 12. zona has yet to beat a ranked team and lose to 3 unranked teams. HAHA Look at our SOS compared to your sad schedual and still have 4 losses. SAD. Kansas is looking very good, how about your wildcats? That loss you guys had to D2 shoulda told you something. LMAO D2-for real? Ouch!!
/
fearthephog25 / December 25, 2011
With ZERO Ranked teams on the remainder of your schedual, will you be sporting your NIT Invite T-Shirt? ROFFL So sad you guys only play 1 ranked team the whole 2011-12 season. Your only hope is to win Pac 12 Tourney to even be considered for a Tourney bid. Kansas is already in again, is that 25 consecutive invites now? I lost count. LOL
/
UofA BJ / December 26, 2011
SOS 9. Rpi 25
/
BostonCat / December 26, 2011
I hear the PAC-12 is ranked 9th from sargin’s conference rankings. Looks like another 1 bid year for the PAC-12. And that is probably too many.
/
mikemiller13 / December 26, 2011
Hey uofa, i’ll tell you how ku is doing. A top 15 team after losing 2 lottery picks, a second rounder, and 2 starting guards playing in europe and the d league. Ku didn’t have one of the outstanding ua recruiting classes. Only player that is getting any pt is a top 100 player in Tharpe. So i’ll ask you, how is ua doing with all that talent, and when is Kansas dropping down to the division 3 level since they can no longer compete? Again, ua is second tier.
/
UofA BJ / December 26, 2011
Robinson withey Taylor Johnson releford
Those r all top 50 guys. So what r u talking about.
Sure KU is better than Arizona this year. But this is the sad thing KU is pretty good this year but they gave zero chance of winning title and they lose Robinson and Taylor after probably a sweet 16 run. Then will one of u tell me how good you will be realistically next year and year after.
/
kungpaochicken / December 26, 2011
The real question is: which of the two men above cost the other $100k?
/
jaboosrum / December 26, 2011
KU has a weak off this year and is still winning… plus this is one of the worst KU teams I have seen….. Also UofA BJ what do you mean how will they be after this year….. Maybe T Rob will come back to try and win a title but he is a top 15 pick so should go….. Also Travis, Johnson, Withey will be back for next year and with Ben and Traylor plus the 5 man class we should be fine for the next 4 years….. I will give you Taleb as a good pick up for u guys…. But Chol has done nothing for you…… If they were smart they would have let Danny (the miracle) Manning get them to the pros
/
UofA BJ / December 26, 2011
Chol is raw but he will be a four year player and he is already a great shot blocker. Give him some time and I think he will be good. They will look like a pro team next year with all the size they have but the question will be do we have immediate impact freshman or will they take rime to develop more?
/
gman / December 26, 2011
Always a good look for a coach to sit next to a kid that cheated his way into college and forced a school to vacate a season.
/
mikemiller13 / December 26, 2011
How does Kansas win with only top 50 players uofa? I thought only ua wins since they pull in all the talent and ku gets leftovers?
/