Prospect Spotlight: Tayson Parker (2020)
One of the best prospects in the 2020 class is someone you may have never heard of. Northwestern’s Tayson Parker has taken the state by storm putting up big numbers after big numbers. He’s a 6’ point guard who is already becoming popular on Twitter due to his ability to throw it down and put up huge scoring totals.
Parker originally played his freshman year with the Indianapolis Homeschool program, who went 27-12 last year. They play a much larger schedule than IHSAA schools allowing Parker to score 676 points last season, a 17.3 points a game average. This year, Parker is attending Northwestern High School, a school by Kokomo.
“It’s going nice and smooth,” Parker said of his transition. “Northwestern’s really good academically and that’s a challenge. I have to keep my grades up and I have all A’s right now. Otherwise it has been a pretty fun transition.”
Northwestern sits at 10-3 and much of that is due to Parker. After losing 12 seniors from last year, the outlook was bleak for Northwestern but coach Jim Gish has them playing really well and others are contributing, not just Parker.
Parker is a key factor on the team though as he’s averaging 31.4 points a game, which is over half of Northwestern’s team average of 61.5 a game. After winning 13 games last year, it looks like Northwestern is on their way to surpass that total with a minimum of eight games to go.
“We are playing great,” Parker said. “We are all getting together really well and we are a huge family. Coach was a little afraid coming in because no one had varsity experience. Everyone was a little nervous but once we started to practice, we thought we could be pretty good.”
Parker is a guy who is still really raw with his ability as he is only has played basketball since age 11. This is what is so intriguing about him since he hasn’t scratched the surface of his potential. Next year will be a huge year in his development to see where he is really at in terms of development but Parker is already hard at work improving his game.
Last year, Parker received an offer from UT Martin, his first D1 offer and has been on unofficial visits to a few schools, including Purdue. We can expect that number to increase this summer as some D2s and low-majors are going to start offering him based on his potential.
Parker is a very good scorer of the ball and is starting to work in a three-point shot that he can make when defenders take away the drive. Parker also is the most athletic player on the floor when he is on the court as he is a threat to throw it down when he gets inside the lane. He’s a quick guy who with improved handles could stay on the ball down the road, but projects better as a two guard.
“I am working on my left hand right now. I am working on being able to do the same things with my left and my right hand, I struggle with that right now. I am working on keeping the ball low as well. You can never be too good of a ball handler or shooter.”