Big Ten Notebook: Jabari Parker chooses Duke over Michigan State

Five-star recruit Jabari Parker announced he would play for Duke next season despite Michigan State's strong recruiting efforts.

By Mike Singer

Dec 20, 2012 at 10:54 am ET • 2 min read

(Video of Roy Devyn Marble courtesy of Big Ten Network)

News and notes from around the Big Ten:

Jabari Parker of Chicago, one of the nation’s most sought after high school recruits, announced Thursday he would be attending Duke, despite a strong push from Michigan State. Representatives from Duke visited with Parker on Tuesday, one day before Michigan State coach Tom Izzo met with the high school senior, according to the Detroit Free Press. Parker said that part of his decision came down to the fact that the Spartans already had SF Branden Dawson at the position. "This marks perhaps the biggest recruiting loss of Tom Izzo's tenure, in a recruitment MSU was thought to lead before Parker took his official visits last fall," the paper wrote.

The win over Mount St. Mary’s -- Indiana’s first since losing to Butler -- was a relatively easy 93-54 rout at Assembly Hall on Wednesday night. Christian Watford, who delivered a sub-par performance in the loss on Saturday, led the team with eight rebounds and also had 15 points. Big men Cody Zeller and Will Sheehey led the team with 16 points apiece, and coach Tom Crean got a chance to exercise some of his bench players with a deeper rotation. In total, 12 players saw action, but junior G Maurice Creek wasn’t one of them. He reportedly suffered an undisclosed injury in practice Sunday and is out indefinitely, according to the Indianapolis Star. Forward Jeremy Hollowell, who has seen double-digit minutes in eight games, didn’t play either. “We just had a multitude of things that we dealt with and we played the guys that were there to help us,” Crean said, refusing to elaborate.

Junior G Roy Devyn Marble continued to lead the streaking Hawkeyes as they cruised over South Carolina State, 90-46, on Wednesday night. Marble, who finished with 27 points on 5 of 6, 3-point shooting in just 22 minutes, outscored South Carolina State himself 21-20 in the first half. “He’s just really playing well. I’m just really proud of him,” coach Fran McCaffery told the Des Moines Register. “I’m moving him around. He’s [leading] our [fast] break. If the offense gets bogged down, he makes a play.” No one else on the Hawkeyes scored in double-digits, but freshman G Mike Gesell had a team-high eight assists.

Northwestern C Alex Olah (Romania) and F Nikola Cerina (Serbia) are the two latest Wildcats from Eastern Europe to play for coach Bill Carmody. According to Inside Northwestern, Carmody has brought in nine players from Eastern Europe and the Balkans in his 13 years. The Wildcats always had trouble recruiting in the basketball hotbed of Chicago, so Carmody had to get creative. Part of the allure of Northwestern is its academics, but Cerina said that when he met his potential teammates, he immediately felt welcome. “Players here are more open to foreign players coming here, I guess since Northwestern has a tradition of bringing in foreign players, so that obviously helps players to adjust,” Cerina said.

For more Big Ten coverage, follow Mike Singer and Dave Carey @CBSSportsBigTen.