On Top of the World: Jabari Won't Be Juco Jewel Like Daddy Dearest

Chicago swingman Jabari Parker, designated on SI's cover as the best high school player since LeBron James, will be the center of the recruiting universe this year. But what separates Jabari from other prep phenoms in similar situations is the presence of a father who has been there and done that. Robert "Sonny" Parker, a two-time All-SWC first-team selection with Texas A&M in the mid-1970s before becoming a first-round draft choice of the NBA's Golden State Warriors, doesn't want coaches emailing or tweeting his son.

If history means anything, employment opportunities, personal relationships and what goes on behind closed doors probably will prove decisive. We probably could maneuver through some of the confusion if it was known whether the Parker family supports Obama (Chicago background) or Romney (Mormon) for POTUS. The Parker periscope will eventually need answers to the following questions posed for all the world to see:

• Will Jabari seek to stay home for a year or two and become a local legend by helping revive DePaul's program via powering the Blue Demons to their first Sweet 16 since 1987 or propelling Northwestern to its first NCAA playoff appearance?

• Will his family's emphasis on their Mormon faith give BYU an edge? LDS founder Joseph Smith was killed in Illinois but a basketball Zion could emanate from there if Jabari "took his talents to Provo" (not South Beach) perhaps via announcing the decision in another contrived ESPN hour-long special. At the very least, Parker could help the Cougars cope with their frustration of an NCAA playoff-record 17 opening-round defeats. Taking them to their first Final Four might assuage his conscience if prodigy Parker can't realistically go on a two-year mission disrupting prime earning years in the NBA.

• How close is Sonny to Washington coach Lorenzo Romar, a two-year teammate with Golden State, or did he have a more favorable firsthand impression of Larry Brown's coaching while opposing the Denver Nuggets in Parker's first three of six NBA seasons from 1976-77 through 1981-82? Romar is a coach unafraid to exhibit his religious faith and has been a guest on "Focus on the Family." For an extended period, he played and coached basketball for Athletes in Action, a Christian sports ministry.

• Could Jabari become Brown's next Danny Manning, who tagged along with his truck driver/assistant coach father from North Carolina to Kansas? In the wildest dreams of SMU fans, they hope former Illinois recruiter Jerrance Howard has maintained an inside connection and that Jabari's father would seek a venerable NBA coach to groom his son for the NBA by playing in a state where the junior college recruit was SWC Most Valuable Player in 1974-75. That would certainly justify the Mustangs reportedly doubling the estimated $180,000 salary Howard was getting from his alma mater. How about the possibility of Parker joining forces with the vaunted in-state Harrison twins?

• To what lengths might Illinois modify its staff under new coach John Groce by adding a well-connected individual from Chicago to jump start a renaissance and get the Champaign flowing? The law of averages is with the Illini. Oddly, Groce's stepbrother Travis Steele was an AAU coach who was hired by Indiana's Kelvin Sampson as a video coordinator. Coincidentally, Eric Gordon, the high school standout who played for Steele's AAU team, reneged on a commitment to Illinois and signed with IU, which also had an assistant at the time by the name of Jeff Meyer (coach of Gordon's father at Liberty). The Illini's pursuit of H.S. teammate Kendrick Nunn could also pay dividends if they choose to continue to play together.

• Is Sonny impressed by coach John Calipari's "one 'n done" philosophy after luring one-year wonders from Chicago and reaching the NCAA Tournament championship game with Derrick Rose (Memphis) and Anthony Davis (Kentucky) to finish with regal 38-2 records? Calipari has a penchant for pushing the envelope. For instance, he hired Tyreke Evans' personal trainer as an "administrative assistant" at Memphis, causing the NCAA to prohibit schools from hiring "associates" of recruits for non-coaching positions.

At any rate, the best-laid plans don't always work out. In a related and sobering item showing life is fragile, Parker isn't the first "can't-miss" player from the same high school. Ben Wilson entered his senior season of high school (1984-85) generally regarded as the premier recruit in the nation because of Magic Johnson-like skills. Just a few days prior to the first game of his senior campaign, Wilson was slain by a gunshot within a block of Simeon High's campus after bumping into two gang members while walking down the street on his school lunch break.

Speculation and more questions about Parker will run rampant as the months unfold. The only thing we do know at this stage is that Jabari won't need to take the junior college route like his father, who attended Mineral Area (MO) before becoming an Aggie.

We also know the ensuing year offers another "once-in-a-lifetime" prospect in Toronto's Andrew Wiggins, the son of former Clemson/Florida State swingman Mitchell Wiggins who is contemplating reclassifying to 2013. Father Wiggins is another former juco player (Truett-McConnell, GA) who also competed six seasons in the NBA after becoming a first-round draft pick. In player rating parlance, some think Andrew Wiggins will be a "10" compared to Jabari Parker, a "9.9", in a close choice for best prospect duplicating the NBA career scoring averages of their dads - Mitchell (10 ppg) compared to Sonny (9.9 ppg).