Simeon’s Jabari Parker has the Sports Illustrated cover and the Good Morning America appearance, but he is no longer the top-ranked player in the class of 2013—at least according to Rivals.com.
Rivals’ rankings were updated on Tuesday and Parker fell to No. 2, with Julius Randle from Plano, Texas taking over the top spot.
“It was a tough decision,” said Eric Bossi, Rivals.com’s national recruiting analyst. “Everyone knows Jabari had some injury issues so we didn’t see him in July as much as the other guys.
“I try not to drop a guy because he was injured, but looking at the level Julius Randle was playing at versus a healthy Jabari, I thought for right now I liked Julius a little bit better.”
Jabari’s father, Sonny Parker, wasn’t too pleased about the news.
“My son fell because he was injured,” Parker said. “He’s still ranked number one everywhere else. He’s national player of the year with two gold medals, three state championships. What more could he do? The rankings are overrated anyway. In that trophy cabinet at Simeon there are trophies that have nothing to do with rankings.”
Parker said that his son is friends with Randle and acknowledged that Randle “played really well this summer.”
“This stuff doesn’t mean anything to Jabari,” Parker said. “He doesn’t get caught up in rankings and all that stuff. His goal this year is to win a state championship.”
