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| Wednesday, February 7 |
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| Kentucky's extra effort pays off with Parker By David Benezra and Mark Mayemura Special to ESPN.com | |||
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The old adage says that recruiting never ends and that is especially true for the Kentucky Wildcats.
On our recruitingusa.com Web site, we reported on Aug. 26 that 6-foot-8, 250-pound Jason Parker would enroll at Kentucky and would almost certainly be found to be eligible for the coming season. On Tuesday, Parker was ruled eligible and enrolled at Kentucky.
It seems Parker's transcript was reevaluated and it was discovered that he was not given credit for two courses that would have made him eligible to play at North Carolina. Evidently the NCAA Clearinghouse evaluated the transcript improperly by not calculating two "higher value" courses Parker had taken.
Parker is just not any freshman. He is man-strong right now, and ready to impact physically as a freshman power forward. His addition gives the 'Cats a very deep and physical group of players down low.
It's a tough blow for the Tar Heels who had declined to accept Parker as a student. Parker's latest test score had taken a 45-percent jump and it was believed by the powers that be at UNC that it would not hold up under scrutiny by the ETS, the administrative body that can determine the validity of the SAT and ACT scores.
The University of Southern California (USC) also gained a late addition for this season when senior Jarvis Turner was given an extra year of eligibility due to an injury sustained last year that curtailed his career. While Turner will not have the impact that Parker has, USC can truly use his experience and presence.
USC was on top the Pac-10 in January when Sam Clancy and Turner went down with severe injuries in the same game and the Trojans did not have the depth to recover. Both are back and healthy. Turner's addition gives USC its deepest team in years.
There are also three recent major verbal commitments from the Class of 2001 to report. Each of which is significant for different reasons.
Alabama native, 6-8, 230-pound power forward Marco Killingsworth has decided to give a verbal commitment to the Auburn Tigers.
A physical left-hander, the athletic Killingsworth (Emmanuel Academy/Durham, N.C.) has good skills and can play inside and outside effectively.
Although he hasn't received as much publicity as some of his peers, Killingsworth is one of the top players in this class and is a major commit for the Tigers. Killingsworth is a quality recruit who provides continuity to an Auburn program that has risen from the ashes in just a few short years.
Recruits like Killingsworth mean you can't hold that tiger.
Georgetown received a commitment from 6-9 Harvey Thomas, a Fredericksburg, Va., native, who was Killingsworth's classmate at Emmanuel Academy last spring. Thomas is undecided right now, whether to stay at Emmanuel or transfer to Montrose Christian Academy (Rockville, Md.).
Thomas hasn't received the respect we think he deserves from others. Like Austin Croshere, Keith Van Horn, Andre Miller, Larry Hughes and others that we also thought were tremendously underrated as high school seniors, Thomas has NBA lottery pick written all over him in his future. Skilled 6-9 players with great athleticism don't come around that often. Thomas is a small forward who will play both forward positions in college.
Despite the hype that Georgetown's class received last season, and their success over the years, the Hoyas have not had a frontline player with the talent of Thomas in quite a long time. As a result, the Hoyas have been top-heavy dependent on perimeter play, and from the guards in particular, as the big guys just have to turn and get it off the glass if they want to score.
Thomas gives them a big man who can score points. Now Thomas just has to hit the weight room to impact as a freshman.
Combo-guard Jermaine Watson's verbal commitment to Boston College didn't come with trumpets blaring from the four corners of the land, but it's a huge commitment for the Eagles and the future of their program. After the admissions fiasco that saw qualified local players refused admission, and resulted in head coach Jim O'Brien relocating to Ohio State, the program was on the skids and the best local players were all going elsewhere.
Head coach Al Skinner couldn't even buy a local player (we don't mean that literally).
The 6-2 Watson (Tabor Academy/Marion, Mass.) is a talented athlete, and again, in our opinion, a highly underrated one, whose commitment might signal a change in beleaguered BC's fortunes with the better local talent.
In the recruiting process, it is popular to run players down because of what they can't do or don't do well. Watson's flaw is shooting. He is not a shooter. And that is serious for a guard, but he is a talented guard. Not only athletic, but a kid who is a throwback. Watson is a relentless attacker who plays every play all out.
Questionable shooting ability didn't hurt Andre Miller's college career, and it won't impact Watson's either.
A lot of people missed on this kid, but the eagle has landed.
David Benezra and Mark Mayemura cover the national college basketball recruiting scene, both high school and junior college recruiting, at their Recruiting USA (www.recruitingusa.com) website.
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