After taking a weekend visit to Kansas, Tony Parker is finished taking trips and will likely announce his college choice at the McDonald’s All-American Game, his father told SNY.tv.
“I think he’s going to do it at the McDonald’s Game,” Virgil Parker said Monday morning in a phone interview.
The game is set for March 28 at the United Center in Chicago and is preceded by several days of practices.
Virgil said his son, a skilled 6-foot-9 center from Lithonia (Ga.) Miller Grove High, will choose from among Kansas, UCLA, Duke, Ohio State, Memphis and Georgia. He confirmed that Kentucky and UConn were no longer in the mix.
As for the Kansas visit, Parker tripped to Lawrence along with fellow 2012 uncommitted stars Shabazz Muhammad and JaKarr Sampson and watched Kansas edge Missouri, 87-86, in OT in perhaps the last Border War ever.
“It was good, it’s a really good atmosphere, really good program,” Virgil said. “It was a really good game, a really good game. I thought Missouri should’ve won it. Anytime you’re up by 19 points at one point, you should come out the game with a victory.”
Kansas has a history of producing NBA big men and head coach Bill Self has pitched that to Parker.
“Tony would be like the Morris twins and like [Thomas] Robinson,” Virgil said. “They’ve done a good job with their bigs the last few years.”
He added: “[Tony] liked the visit. They had a really big reception for him, as far as the fans. Kansas fans are really informed and they know their basketball. They treated him really good.”
Tony himself Tweeted: “I sat next to Larry brown today at the game the best atmosphere in my life.”
For now, Virgil said his son was focused on his high school season.
“He has about four more games to win the state, this would be his fourth state championship,” he said.
No more visits are planned.
“It’s time to think it over and nail everything down now,” Virgil said.
UCLA remains a factor and Parker is tight with UCLA-bound point guard Kyle Anderson of St. Anthony.
“I think that UCLA is definitely high on the list,” Virgil said. “Those kids have competed against each other for a long time.”
Duke also remains prominent because Coach K has expressed strong interest.
“Exactly,” Virgil said.
DocBean / February 27, 2012
KU is quickly becoming Big Man U.
Robinson is looking like he’ll be the player of the year, and a top 5 pick. Withey has really taken to Danny Manning’s teaching to become a 1st round pick (although he’ll probably stick around another year).
Last year KU had the Morris twins, who were both in the Lottery if I recall.
The year before that they had Cole Aldrich, who like Robinson and Withey turned it on his sophomore and junior years to become a top round pick. (I don’t remember if he was a lottery pick or not)
The year before that they had Darrel Arthur, Darnell Jackson, and Sasha Kaun.
A lot of these guys weren’t big time recruits, and all of them were drafted higher then they were projected coming out of high school. Self and Manning just keep churning these guys out year after year.
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UofA BJ / February 27, 2012
Sounds like KU is def in this race.
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Jalonzoc / February 27, 2012
Tony Parker would look great in a KU uniform!
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RcKchalk12 / February 27, 2012
so who would start ellis or parker? both of them probably want to start where they go to college
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mikemiller13 / February 27, 2012
not sure rck, i think ultimetly the 2 have different games. would be fun if manning gets the opportunity to develop both along with peters, traylor, and lucas. the depth at the 4/5 spot will be coming back around quickly. hi low could be nasty
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hawkarma / February 29, 2012
To echo DocBean, Mr. Parker would we very wise to pick KU if he wants the best odds of making it to the NBA. Basically, if you start at the 4 or 5 for KU, you’ll get drafted by the NBA. And you’ll go lottery more than 50% of the time.
In his first four seasons as coach of the KU big men, Danny Manning has molded six different bigs (Kaun, Arthur, Jackson, Aldrich, Mc. Morris, Mk. Morris) into NBA draft picks. Thomas Robinson will definitely make that seven after this season. Jeff Withey will likely make that eight after next season.
No. Brainer.
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