Tony Parker will announce Monday
Arguably the best recruit in the 2012 class to have yet to make his decision, center Tony Parker will make his decision on Monday at 4:00 PM. His recruiting is reportedly wide open, and the Kansas Jayhawks, who already have a top ten recruiting class stocked with talented bigs, are among the teams in on it and offered Tony Parker. In fact, the Lithonia, Georgia recruit visited the team in late February.
Tony Parker also has offers from UConn, Duke, Georgetown, Georgia, Kentucky, Memphis, Ohio State, UCLA, Georgia Tech, UNC, and Florida.
He is the seventh best center in the nation and a top 25 recruit overall in this class. His decision has every school in on his recruitment on the ropes, as he could feasibly go to any of the top six front-runners; Kansas, UCLA, OSU, Georgia, the Blue Devils, and Memphis.
Parker was previously said to be coming to a decision yesterday, but it will all be pushed back to a critical Monday for six top programs- including the Jayhawks.
The Miller Grove High grad will commit at his school, and the 6’9″ 270 pound recruit played in the McDonald’s All-American game and the Jordan Brand Classic Game. The five-star recruit has a grade of 96 from ESPN and 99 from 247, which means that Tony Parker is almost a sure thing to be a difference maker at the college level.
Whoever gets him is getting a future star, and we have no idea which team he will go to; it’s as wide open as it gets. But we can only hope that he goes to Kansas and joins forces with Bill Self, the talented nucleus that is already there, and another great recruiting class. In fact, it is safe to say that we will have a top five recruiting class if we can land Tony Parker.
The top recruit in Georgia- top five in the region- has a terrific motor and is as good as it gets around the rim. The star center is equally adept at making plays with both hands and dominates on the blow block. His mid-range game is solid, but the problem is that he plays below the rim and isn’t always in shape. That hurts his ability to run the floor at times, but those concerns are meaningless when he is properly conditioned. If he plays at KU, then that won’t be a problem at all.
This is a player who hasn’t completely filled out and will continue to grow from his current 6’9″ stature. Tony Parker is an elite low post player who excels on offense in the paint, and there isn’t a more dynamic low post weapon in this class. The seventh best C recruit in the nation, Parker is still developing and will tap into his wealth of potential on a team like KU, UK, or Duke. Those schools will condition him to the top, and that, combined with a filled out frame, will enable him to become one of the best bigs in the country.
Despite all the talk of “filling out his frame”, Tony Parker is a big enough center to begin with. He is extremely talented and is just so dominant in the paint and on the low post. The fact that he can also score from mid-range at times also helps. He finishes plays and can catch basically any pass. His touch around the rim is impeccable- he can use both hands well to score- and there isn’t a way to stop him on the low block.
Moreover, Parker is arguably the most talented big man in this recruiting class and is an impact player at the collegiate level. If his next school is able to condition him well, then he will turn out to be one of the best players in the nation. A team like Memphis can change their entire program with Tony Parker, and his decision is an important event for college basketball fans; especially ones of the teams involved.