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Parker looks elsewhere UNC recruit was denied after SAT jump red-flagged
CHARLOTTE (AP) -- North Carolina coaches urged two-time high school player of the year Jason Parker to attend junior college, then released him from his commitment to play for the Tar Heels when Parker declined, his father said. North Carolina said Tuesday that Parker would not attend the school. The decision was due to concern the second of two college entrance exams could be disqualified, said Jesse Parker, the player's father. The NCAA last month invalidated a score on an SAT exam because it was 45 percent better than Jason Parker's previous high. NCAA and SAT officials say such jumps are extremely rare. After the score was flagged, Parker decided to retake the test, but didn't record a score high enough to qualify for NCAA competition. Jason Parker plans to make a decision about college by Saturday, his father said. Jesse Parker said if his son is unable to attend college, he will suggest his son enroll in a junior college and then declare himself eligible for the NBA draft next spring. Schools interested in Parker include Michigan and Kentucky, The Charlotte Observer reported Thursday. The 6-foot-8, 250-pound power forward would be eligible to play NCAA Division I basketball based on his highest ACT score, the newspaper said. The Observer said it obtained a copy of Parker's latest NCAA clearinghouse report dated July 27. "The timing of all this was terrible," Jesse Parker said. "But we've just got to move on. It'll work out fine. It's in the Lord's hands and Jason's a blessed child." Parker, of Charlotte, was one of the nation's top high school prospects in 1999 and signed with the Tar Heels. But he didn't qualify academically and instead attended Fork Union Military Academy, a prep school in Virginia. The school's president, Gen. John Jackson, said the academic year is divided into five seven-week sessions. During two of those sessions, cadets are immersed in preparing for college entrance exams -- seven weeks on math and seven on language. Fletcher Arritt, Parker's basketball coach at Fork Union, said he's seen test scores for at least a dozen of his players improve dramatically. Most of the scores, were flagged, he said. "It's not unusual here," Arritt said. "Fork Union does a very good job of helping these kids do better on their SATs." Mabel Parker, Jason's mother, said her son's highest ACT and SAT scores came in tests taken in April, after the rigorous tutoring programs. North Carolina coaches were concerned the ACT score could be challenged in the future as the SAT score was, Jesse Parker said. North Carolina coaches, Jesse Parker said, suggested Jason attend a junior college, which he chose not to do. If Parker does enroll at another college, he could lose his scholarship if his ACT test is investigated and determined to be invalid, said Ed Lupomech, an NCAA enforcement official who investigates academic fraud. All scholarship money would have to be repaid, he said. The NCAA has not penalized a school in such a scenario to date, Lupomech said. "It's more of a suffering for the student, who has to repay monies," he said. "But there's always the possibility the school would be required to forfeit games."
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