'Humble dude' Christian Parker leads Final Four-bound Mount Union men's basketball team
ALLIANCE — Long before he was the Ohio Athletic Conference Player of the Year, the lynchpin on a national championship contender and a hooper with a possible professional future, Christian Parker was a young basketball player dealing with disappointment.
Parker was cut from the freshman team at GlenOak High School.
He's come a long way in six years.
Parker finds himself leading a loaded University of Mount Union men's basketball team into an NCAA Division III national semifinal on Thursday at 8 p.m. The No. 3-ranked Purple Raiders (29-2) face Wisconsin-Whitewater (25-7) at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
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No matter how many accolades he collects (he also is the D3hoops.com All-Region 7 Player of the Year), no matter how many points he scores (he's already at 1,237 in 71 career games with Mount), Parker will forever hold a piece of that rejected ninth-grader in him.
"It's always in the back of my mind," said the 20-year-old Parker, who is listed as a junior but has two more years of eligibility remaining thanks to his COVID-hampered freshman season at Mount.
Parker shines brighest on a Mount team full of stars such as dynamic guards Collen Gurley and Jeffery Mansfield and OAC Defensive Player of the Year Darrell Newsom.
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But he doesn't carry himself that way.
Mount Union head coach Mike Fuline calls Parker a "very quiet, humble dude," one who doesn't like to do interviews and talk about himself.
"It's almost like he still holds that insecurity a little bit. 'Am I really, really good?'" Fuline said.
"And then the game starts, and then that question is out the door."
Parker, a 6-foot-6, 215-pound forward, can score at all three levels on the floor.
He earned All-OAC First Team last year coming off Mount's bench, averaging 19.2 points and 8.6 rebounds. This year, as a starter, he averages 18.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks while shooting 53.4% from the floor and 34.8% from the 3-point line.
He made one of his first 22 3-point attempts this season. After prodding from his coaches to continue to shoot, he's 22-for-44 from deep since. Parker has averaged 24.8 points and 11.7 rebounds his last six games, going back to the start of the OAC Tournament.
He totaled 26 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks in Mount's Elite Eight win against Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Saturday, advancing the Purple Raiders to their first final four in program history.
Gurley, an All-OAC First Teamer this season and a kid talented enough to spend last year with Division I Youngstown State before transferring back to Mount, was asked after Saturday's game what makes this year's Purple Raiders so special.
"Christian Parker," Gurley said with little hesitation.
After some chuckles in the room, Gurley continued, "If I'm being honest, we put everything into him. For him to be a ... junior and lead us the way he does and always have to deal with our stuff — us being mad, us this and that — he handles it very well. He handles a lot.
"I tell him all the time, 'You're the best player in the country.' ... Me, Jeffery, 'Rell, all of us talk, all of us keep things going. But it starts with 22."
Parker shakes his head at such praise.
"I think they make me look good, honestly," he said. "I don't get out of my shell a lot. But I'm comfortable around my teammates. The way they talk about me, I can't say that about myself because I'm just here to play basketball at the end of the day and do whatever it takes to win."
Parker's high school career is a lesson in perseverance.
After getting cut as a freshman, he saw spotty minutes playing JV ball as sophomore.
Then as a junior, he started to take off. Parker earned a varsity starting spot along with ballyhooed freshmen Josiah Harris and Ramar Pryor.
After Harris and Pryor left for Richmond Heights and St. Vincent-St. Mary, respectively, the next year (and eventually landed at West Virginia and Cleveland State this year), the stage was set for Parker.
He didn't disappoint, averaging 19.0 points and 10.5 rebounds in gaining Federal League Player of the Year.
"After that year, I realized I could do something with basketball," Parker said. "At first, I didn't really see myself going to college to play. But after that season, it was becoming easier to score the ball and find my spot on the court. The coaches started believing in me a lot. It gave me that extra boost."
Still, his college options were limited. Division IIs Walsh and Malone offered. Mount, blossoming into a D3 power at the time under Fuline, was on him the earliest and stuck with him the longest.
Parker liked the way Mount's coaches preached family and basically lived it, sitting with his mother (Christine Parker), aunt (Angela Bates) and sister (Vanessa Parker) at games and getting to know them.
"They're my biggest fans," Parker said. "They won't miss a game. They're always the loudest in the gym."
He gives them a lot for which to cheer.
Fuline had a feeling Parker could be special. He was right, and he's excited to see where Parker goes from here, maybe even to the professional ranks after he's done in Alliance.
"He just kept getting better and plays with such an edge that you do not see, even in practice," Fuline said. "But when the lights come on, it's incredible, man. For our team, they recognize it."
Reach Josh at josh.weir@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @jweirREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: GlenOak grad Christian Parker leads Mount Union men's basketball
