City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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When Arashma Parks knew where he wanted to go to school, he called up his big brother.

“I’m going to Temple, just to let you know,’” Parks said.

His brothers’ response, according to Parks: “You know Temple has never beaten Villanova, right?’”

Quite an exaggeration, to be sure. But one that can be expected, considering Parks’ brother -- and the voice on the other end of that phone call -- is Villanova redshirt freshman center Omari Spellman.

Unless Spellman departs after this season for the NBA, the two siblings are bound to be Big 5 rivals in the fall, as Parks committed to play at Temple earlier Thursday evening.

“He’s real close to me, he played a big role in my decision,” Parks said of Spellman, a top-15 recruit in 2016 who took a redshirt season last year due to a transcript issue but is fully cleared and expected to be a major part of the Wildcats’ plans this season. “He said just make sure it’s the right school for you.”

For the better part of a year, Temple assistant Chris Clark recruited Parks, staying in touch from early in Parks’ junior year at Commonwealth Academy (Mass.) through the spring and summer of his AAU season.

The reason a scholarship offer hadn’t come, Clark told Parks, was because head coach Fran Dunphy needed to see him play in person before deciding to extend a scholarship.

When it all happened, it happened quickly.

Dunphy and two of his assistants saw Parks play at a July 23 combine put on by his AAU team, the PSA Cardinals, during the second weekend of the July live recruiting periods. An offer from the Owls followed that evening, and on Aug. 1 he took a visit to the school’s North Broad St. campus.

Two days later, he was committed.

“Took the visit on August 1st, and I fell in love with the campus, Coach Dunph told me a lot of good things,” he said. “Sat down, talked to my family, set up an official [visit] date...and I couldn’t wait anymore, I liked the school so a lot so (my mom) said ‘go ahead and call Coach Dunph and let him know.’

“I thought it was going to be one of those seniors who waited it out, but as soon as I got on campus and met Coach Dunph, I was like yeah, this is the school for me,” Parks added. “(Dunphy is) real honest, I could tell, he’s a man of his word. I felt really comfortable around him the whole time.”

He's the first member of Temple's 2018 recruiting class. The Owls have one more scholarship available, barring a transfer or some other change in the roster situation.

A 6-foot-9, 240-pound forward, Parks has played behind talented big men wherever he’s been. Last year at Commonwealth, he played with Saint Louis freshman Hasahn French, a powerful 6-7 forward, and he’s been with impressive bigs on the PSA Cardinals squad as well.

This year, playing with PSA Cardinals on the Nike EYBL circuit, Parks averaged 2.1 ppg and 2.9 rpg in under 10 mpg off the bench. At Temple, he’s hoping to get the chance to really show what he can do.

“I’m a defensive player -- rebounding and blocking shots,” he said. “I do things that most bigs can’t, I’m more active, I can score in the low post, get put-backs.”

Parks mentioned Saint Louis, Pitt, UMass and George Washington as other schools that had previously offered and were still after his services. Temple was the only new offer he picked up in July.

When he gets on campus, Parks will be joining a frontcourt that projects to include then-senior Ernest Aflakpui (6-9), junior Damion Moore (6-11) and sophomore Justyn Hamilton (6-10). Parks said that Dunphy has told him to work on his face-up game and jump shot, so he could be able to play the ‘4’ alongside one of those three centers.

Though he’s about a year away from donning an Owls jersey for the first time, Parks will actually be arriving in the Philadelphia area this fall. After spending the last three seasons at Commonwealth Academy, he’ll be playing out his senior year at the Phelps School in Malvern, under former Temple walk-on Brian Shanahan.

He had his sights set on Phelps from the end of his junior year, Parks said; the Temple connection and fact he’d play his college basketball in town was only a coincidence.

“Temple coming around, it was just another plus,” he said. “Everything is all in one area, the Philadelphia area, so everything just fell into place.”