When this season opens, Simeon Academy senior forward Jabari Parker will be going for his fourth consecutive state championship with the school, as Taylor Bell of CSN Chicago writes. The top player in this year's class leads one of the highest-rated teams in the nation entering the 2012-13 high school basketball season.
Simeon coach Robert Smith tells Bell that he's expecting huge things from Parker in his final prep season:
Parker will be more dominant this year. His overall game will take off. He is more mature. He has grown up a lot. He was looking forward to being a senior. Now he is a senior. He used to want to give the seniors the torch. Now he is the leader of the team.
Smith also added that Parker has openly discussed his aspirations of winning the national championship with Simeon this year, a legitimate possibility given the difficulty of the school's schedule. Last year, Simeon was ranked No. 1 in the nation when it lost to Findley Prep of Henderson, Nev., to drop out of the top spot.
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