By now you probably already know the news. Class of 2010 forward Mychal Parker has committed to the Terps.
That’s the third member of the 2010 recruiting class so far, a class that on paper is shaping up to be Gary Williams’ best recruiting haul in quite some time.
Of course, the key phrase in that statement is “on paper.” All you have to do is check out how that 2002 class turned out (McCray flunked out, Gilchrist bashed heads with Williams and left early and Garrison underperformed) to understand how in a lot of instances, internet recruiting rankings don’t mean Sweet 16 trips.
Nonetheless, the 6-foot-6 Parker is a get. The Washington, N.C., native is ranked as the No. 48 overall prospect by Scout, and No. 70 by Rivals. Add him to a group that includes highly-regarded guards Terrence Ross and Terrell Stoglin, and Williams might have found needed replacements for seniors Greivis Vasquez, Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne.
Plus, getting Parker over Virginia, the other school most rumored to be chasing his services this summer, and a program progressing under the new leadership of coach Tony Bennett, is a powerful recruiting statement.
In about four years we’ll see if this recruiting statement actually resulted in more success on the court and not just a pretty big day on the Terps’ blogosphere and message boards.
Aaron Kraut is The Diamondback’s sports editor. He can be reached at akraut@umdbk.com.
What a nice recruiting class. I know that I have been hard on Gary for the past fews years, but he has deserved the bad press. All Gary hd to do was get himself off the golf course and do some recruiting. We all knew that he is one of the best recruiters in college but he has not shown that in the past fews years. Maybe he thought is job was on the line. What ever the reason it is finaly working. Nice job Gary!!!!!