[LuckE2Bhere]

I doubt this will come as a great shock to anyone, but at least we had some hope... until this afternoon's press conference.

At least we had a couple of (fairly obvious) things going for us, and it's certainly better to have made his final five than not!

Per http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college...topstories

"At the conclusion of the in-home visits, Parker trimmed his list of schools to five: Duke, Michigan State, Florida, Stanford and BYU. The first three were no surprise. But Stanford and BYU raised some eyebrows. Stanford had two draws, starting with coach Johnny Dawkins. Parker respects Dawkins, relates to him and loves his approach to the game. Stanford's academic reputation was the other plus. A national honor society student with a 3.7 GPA, Parker is serious about obtaining a degree and he'd like it to come from a prestigious university.
...
In October, Parker set up official campus visits to the five schools. Before making the first trip to Michigan State, Parker and his brother Christian made two lists. One had the five schools. The other had Jabari's top five priorities in selecting a school: Coach, Academics, Environment (social), Basketball (team chemistry and style of play) and Spirituality.
Then Jabari selected the schools that best fit his priorities:
Coach: Duke
Academics: Duke/Stanford
Basketball: Michigan State
Environment: Duke
Spirituality: Undecided"

A few interesting insights in that thought process.  Oh well...

[LuckE2Bhere]

I doubt this will come as a great shock to anyone, but at least we had some hope... until this afternoon's press conference.

At least we had a couple of (fairly obvious) things going for us, and it's certainly better to have made his final five than not!

Per http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college...topstories

"At the conclusion of the in-home visits, Parker trimmed his list of schools to five: Duke, Michigan State, Florida, Stanford and BYU. The first three were no surprise. But Stanford and BYU raised some eyebrows. Stanford had two draws, starting with coach Johnny Dawkins. Parker respects Dawkins, relates to him and loves his approach to the game. Stanford's academic reputation was the other plus. A national honor society student with a 3.7 GPA, Parker is serious about obtaining a degree and he'd like it to come from a prestigious university.
...
In October, Parker set up official campus visits to the five schools. Before making the first trip to Michigan State, Parker and his brother Christian made two lists. One had the five schools. The other had Jabari's top five priorities in selecting a school: Coach, Academics, Environment (social), Basketball (team chemistry and style of play) and Spirituality.
Then Jabari selected the schools that best fit his priorities:
Coach: Duke
Academics: Duke/Stanford
Basketball: Michigan State
Environment: Duke
Spirituality: Undecided"

A few interesting insights in that thought process.  Oh well...

[76lsjumb]

Unfortunately, it's becoming increasingly clear [and, yes, garvin, I readily concede it was clear to you a long time ago] that being "almost Duke" just isn't going to cut it.

[76lsjumb]

Unfortunately, it's becoming increasingly clear [and, yes, garvin, I readily concede it was clear to you a long time ago] that being "almost Duke" just isn't going to cut it.

[StannyBoy]

as good as our football program now is, our basketball program has a long ways to go before it is on the same level.

[StannyBoy]

as good as our football program now is, our basketball program has a long ways to go before it is on the same level.

[76lsjumb]

as good as our football program now is, our basketball program has a long ways to go before it is on the same level.

Funny how times change. 

At the end of 1998, a "younger money" would have observed that, as good as our basketball program now is [having missed out on a National Championship game by only an overtime loss to Kentucky earlier that year] our football program has a long ways to go before it is on the same level [having just completed a rather dismal 3-8 season that included a 6-game losing streak (although we did win Big Game)].

The following football season [1999], of course, ended with our last trip to the Rose Bowl, while following the basketball season [1998-99] ended with a Pac-10 conference championship and at least a return trip to the Big Dance [although ending prematurely, as a few others did, in Seattle].

[76lsjumb]

as good as our football program now is, our basketball program has a long ways to go before it is on the same level.

Funny how times change. 

At the end of 1998, a "younger money" would have observed that, as good as our basketball program now is [having missed out on a National Championship game by only an overtime loss to Kentucky earlier that year] our football program has a long ways to go before it is on the same level [having just completed a rather dismal 3-8 season that included a 6-game losing streak (although we did win Big Game)].

The following football season [1999], of course, ended with our last trip to the Rose Bowl, while following the basketball season [1998-99] ended with a Pac-10 conference championship and at least a return trip to the Big Dance [although ending prematurely, as a few others did, in Seattle].

[fullmetal]

After Krzyzewski's visit, Jabari's older brother, Christian, tried to help Jabari narrow his decision.

"If there was one coach you could play for, who would it be?" he said.

"Coach Wooden," Jabari said.

"Well he's no longer here. So who is your second choice?"

"There is only person now that is close to him. Coach K."

Hard to beat that.

On Thanksgiving weekend, Parker made his official visit to BYU. It was the only visit where his brother Christian, who attends the school, accompanied him. By the time Parker arrived in Provo he had decided that Michigan State, Florida and Duke were equally capable of providing the spiritual connection he needed.

Accustomed to being the only Mormon in a very large urban high school, Parker felt at home at each of the campus congregations he visited and he liked the fact that his coaches made a point to connect him with local Mormons. It enabled him to fill in the final category on his chart -- Spirituality: Duke/Michigan State/Florida.

Obviously BYU was always in the spirituality category, but did someone at Stanford goof up enough to where Stanford's Mormon community didn't seem to fit his needs?  Mark Madsen is Mormon...

In early December, when Christian came home from college, Jabari told him that he wanted to go to Duke. A week ago he informed his parents and his high school coach, Robert Smith, that he would make his announcement on Thursday. That touched off a final push from Duke, Michigan State, Florida and BYU.

No Stanford push.  Did Dawkins, et al. know already that they were out of the hunt?

[fullmetal]

After Krzyzewski's visit, Jabari's older brother, Christian, tried to help Jabari narrow his decision.

"If there was one coach you could play for, who would it be?" he said.

"Coach Wooden," Jabari said.

"Well he's no longer here. So who is your second choice?"

"There is only person now that is close to him. Coach K."

Hard to beat that.

On Thanksgiving weekend, Parker made his official visit to BYU. It was the only visit where his brother Christian, who attends the school, accompanied him. By the time Parker arrived in Provo he had decided that Michigan State, Florida and Duke were equally capable of providing the spiritual connection he needed.

Accustomed to being the only Mormon in a very large urban high school, Parker felt at home at each of the campus congregations he visited and he liked the fact that his coaches made a point to connect him with local Mormons. It enabled him to fill in the final category on his chart -- Spirituality: Duke/Michigan State/Florida.

Obviously BYU was always in the spirituality category, but did someone at Stanford goof up enough to where Stanford's Mormon community didn't seem to fit his needs?  Mark Madsen is Mormon...

In early December, when Christian came home from college, Jabari told him that he wanted to go to Duke. A week ago he informed his parents and his high school coach, Robert Smith, that he would make his announcement on Thursday. That touched off a final push from Duke, Michigan State, Florida and BYU.

No Stanford push.  Did Dawkins, et al. know already that they were out of the hunt?

[washingtonismoney]

No Stanford push.  Did Dawkins, et al. know already that they were out of the hunt?

Of course.

IMAGINARY PARKER-DAWKINS CONVERSATION:

DAWKINS: "Hey, Jabari, come to Stanford!"

PARKER: "Uh...Didn't you lose a game this season because your best player fouled a guy taking a half-court desperation heave? Haven't you never made it to the tournament, despite coaching a school that had previously gone several years in a row? Haven't you never finished above 7th in a weak Pac-12? How many players have you sent to the NBA?"

DAWKINS: "You're be a featured player!"

PARKER: "What is it you do on offense? It looks vaguely like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ATphsb7MrQ Except simultaneously more predictable (for the defense) and less predictable because more meaningless. And what the heck* is up with your rotations? Featured player for you apparently means a bit over 30 minutes. Will I have to sit if there's another scorer on the floor?"

DAWKINS: "The academics!"

PARKER: "They're....pretty good at Duke. Hey, speaking of -- why is it you took all the players to see Coach K a couple of days ago? Isn't this an admission you have few original ideas of your own? Shouldn't I go straight to the source?"

DAWKINS: "This was a longshot, wasn't it?"

PARKER: "Sorry brah."

The academics/athletics pitch works -- as Harbaugh/Shaw have demonstrated -- when you give them some hope of athletic success. Hope is not necessarily zero with Dawkins, but it's asymptotic to it.

[washingtonismoney]

No Stanford push.  Did Dawkins, et al. know already that they were out of the hunt?

Of course.

IMAGINARY PARKER-DAWKINS CONVERSATION:

DAWKINS: "Hey, Jabari, come to Stanford!"

PARKER: "Uh...Didn't you lose a game this season because your best player fouled a guy taking a half-court desperation heave? Haven't you never made it to the tournament, despite coaching a school that had previously gone several years in a row? Haven't you never finished above 7th in a weak Pac-12? How many players have you sent to the NBA?"

DAWKINS: "You're be a featured player!"

PARKER: "What is it you do on offense? It looks vaguely like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ATphsb7MrQ Except simultaneously more predictable (for the defense) and less predictable because more meaningless. And what the heck* is up with your rotations? Featured player for you apparently means a bit over 30 minutes. Will I have to sit if there's another scorer on the floor?"

DAWKINS: "The academics!"

PARKER: "They're....pretty good at Duke. Hey, speaking of -- why is it you took all the players to see Coach K a couple of days ago? Isn't this an admission you have few original ideas of your own? Shouldn't I go straight to the source?"

DAWKINS: "This was a longshot, wasn't it?"

PARKER: "Sorry brah."

The academics/athletics pitch works -- as Harbaugh/Shaw have demonstrated -- when you give them some hope of athletic success. Hope is not necessarily zero with Dawkins, but it's asymptotic to it.

[pincemob]

This guy seemed like a long-shot.  There would have to be very special circumstances for a top recruit to choose our program over Duke, if we are being honest with ourselves.

I have not heard much about Aaron Gordon.  Weren't we in his top-5 at one point?  There you have a local angle.  I believe his sister plays for Harvard and Mom works in the tech industry.  I would think having one of their kids nearby (Drew playing overseas) would be attractive, seeing his games, etc.    And while I am not an expert, people I know who have seen both say Gordon is much better than Parker. 

[pincemob]

This guy seemed like a long-shot.  There would have to be very special circumstances for a top recruit to choose our program over Duke, if we are being honest with ourselves.

I have not heard much about Aaron Gordon.  Weren't we in his top-5 at one point?  There you have a local angle.  I believe his sister plays for Harvard and Mom works in the tech industry.  I would think having one of their kids nearby (Drew playing overseas) would be attractive, seeing his games, etc.    And while I am not an expert, people I know who have seen both say Gordon is much better than Parker. 

[Spiny_Norman]

Gordon dropped Stanford a while ago.  He is down to Kentucky, Arizona and Washington.

[Spiny_Norman]

Gordon dropped Stanford a while ago.  He is down to Kentucky, Arizona and Washington.

[BobK]

Sadly Gordon's grades were not Stanford like. 

Parker was here in August Madsen was in chicago pushing.  We were not in the final two but to say we didn't push is in error.

[BobK]

Sadly Gordon's grades were not Stanford like. 

Parker was here in August Madsen was in chicago pushing.  We were not in the final two but to say we didn't push is in error.