Jabari Parker picks Duke

[4everwarriors]

The thing that makes Looney so good is that he doesn't stand out. He's level headed, he's not all about himself, he's not flashy, he's not talking trash, he's not complaining to the refs or his teammates or his coaches. He just quietly goes about his business and all of a sudden he has 25, 15, and 8 blocks. It's absurd. He's as much of the real deal as you will find in Wisconsin. Extremely smooth, well balanced game. He doesn't SEEM to live up to the hype because he doesn't ACT like one of the prima donnas looking to get his. Which is why he's going to be a big time star.

This is spot on. He's one of the most mature, level-headed kids you'd ever want to meet, particularly on a stage as big as his. Aside from the obvious props to his parents, Kevon has that inner drive to be the best player he's capable of being. He realizes he needs to get stronger and quicker. The goal is the Association and I, for one, am not bettin' against him.

[TexMex]

Welcome back warthog.

No

[mubb34]

Ive watched Looney twice this year live, and Burrell actually played better than him both times. Looney did not impress me as much as he has been hyped

Well put, he is a very humble player. I never really looked at it that way.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Hopefully wherever Looney goes he is treated better than Parker has been the last 24 hours.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story/_/id/8770272/jabari-parker-duke-blue-devils-recruit-deals-twitter-backlash-decision

[brewcity77]

Hopefully wherever Looney goes he is treated better than Parker has been the last 24 hours.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story/_/id/8770272/jabari-parker-duke-blue-devils-recruit-deals-twitter-backlash-decision

That's ridiculous, especially as UNC wasn't on his final list. Just more evidence that the Duke/Carolina rivalry inspires hatred and bitterness. Great rivalry, but I imagine it'd be tough for a 17-year-old to jump into the middle of that.

[chapman]

That's ridiculous, especially as UNC wasn't on his final list. Just more evidence that the Duke/Carolina rivalry inspires hatred and bitterness. Great rivalry, but I imagine it'd be tough for a 17-year-old to jump into the middle of that.

Yeah, pretty sad when someone can't take off the light blue glasses long enough to see that nobody in their right mind could fault a kid for committing to Duke.  Even sadder is I'd guess none of those people went to UNC or live anywhere near Chapel Hill.

[Groin_pull]

Hopefully wherever Looney goes he is treated better than Parker has been the last 24 hours.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story/_/id/8770272/jabari-parker-duke-blue-devils-recruit-deals-twitter-backlash-decision

Yes, it's sad that a teenager has to take that kind of abuse, but he wanted the attention. An announcement in front of the entire school—and on ESPNU? If you want the spotlight, you're got to be prepared for praise—and ridicule.

Not saying it's right, just saying it's reality.

[Tugg Speedman]

Let me offer a cynical explanation ...

He has 34,000 followers.  No matter where he was going he was going to get angry tweets.  And I'm sure he got a lot of them.  But, isn't it interesting that he only picked out the UNC tweets to highlight in the media?  No MSU fans tweeted him to express their "disappointment."

All this shows is he is fully committed to Duke to the point he is using how tweets to disparage UNC.

Rule #1 of going to Duke, never pass on a chance to slam UNC.

[reinko]

No Marquette fan would ever taunt a recruit on Twitter.

Especially not fans that dress up in blue spandex body suits at games, crave attention, and get fed "inside info" from their big shot pappy.

[wadesworld]

No Marquette fan would ever taunt a recruit on Twitter.

Especially not fans that dress up in blue spandex body suits at games, crave attention, and get fed "inside info" from their big shot pappy.

Hey man, he's been on the BMO BC jumbo tron, ESPN, and the in SI.  Leave him alone, he's legit.  His dad told me so.

[Stretchdeltsig]

We should be happy to have Steve Taylor Jr.  He was the real deal and will be a great player for Marquette.  Let MSU have Parker.

[4everwarriors]

Yeah, and Dewey made a fine president too.

[Dawson Rental]

Really,really decent kid. But not even the best player in Chicago.

I hope that doesn't sound critical because he's a great talent. Good luck Jabari!

Of course not, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng are all ahead of him.

[The Process]

No Marquette fan would ever taunt a recruit on Twitter.

Especially not fans that dress up in blue spandex body suits at games, crave attention, and get fed "inside info" from their big shot pappy.

LEAVE LITTLE BOY BLUE ALONE!  LEAVE HIM ALONE!

[wadesworld]

That's ridiculous, especially as UNC wasn't on his final list. Just more evidence that the Duke/Carolina rivalry inspires hatred and bitterness. Great rivalry, but I imagine it'd be tough for a 17-year-old to jump into the middle of that.

I'm not trying to be insensitive as I'm sure there were much worse things "Tweeted" at Jabari Parker on Twitter that they didn't show in the ESPN.com article, but I see nothing wrong with the "Tweets" that were posted.  Calling him a loser?  OH NO!  Saying he won't have an NBA career?  Shucks.  Someone who has never met him saying he/she lost respect for him?  I'm guessing that one is tearing Parker apart inside.  Really not a big deal, and if he's hurting from it then those "Tweets" are probably right, he won't make it into the NBA with that thin of skin.  To be honest, they have a point.  It's overly talked about how much Duke stars struggle once they go to the NBA.

Easy to call UNC fans out on it, but let's pretend Andrew Wiggins announces he is committing to Wisconsin.  Everyone on here would sit back and applaud him for his decision?  Come on now.  We already talk on here about how Bo's system ruins any chance players have of making it to the NBA (Brian Butch, for example...Greg Steimsma being so misused that he needed the D League to remake his game, etc.), compare how many players are currently in the NBA from Marquette and Wisconsin, etc.  If a top 2 recruit in the country chose to go to Wisconsin this board would have 15+ threads about how terrible the decision is, how Bo gets the most out of average players but can't develop top talent into NBA players, etc. etc. etc.  And BlueManGroup over there would single-handedly blow up Twitter shunning the decision.

[brewcity77]

No idea why you're bumping this after a week, but whatever. My point is more the UNC fans that seemed upset he chose Duke over UNC when UNC wasn't in the running. It's ridiculous to be mad at him for picking any school that was on his list over one that wasn't.

[wadesworld]

No idea why you're bumping this after a week, but whatever. My point is more the UNC fans that seemed upset he chose Duke over UNC when UNC wasn't in the running. It's ridiculous to be mad at him for picking any school that was on his list over one that wasn't.

My guess is that they were more just mad that he chose Duke in general.  If I was a UNC alum/student, I would be too.  You have to play him twice every year that he's there now.  That would not make me happy.