Jabari Parker chooses Duke as the BYU pipedream bursts

It all felt surreal, anyway.

Jabari Parker will not be attending Brigham Young University, and instead has chosen to play at Duke. And when you think about it, how could BYU compete with Coach K? NCAA titles, Olympics, LeBron's personal mentor.

Though it never seemed real that BYU could be wooing the #2 recruit in the nation, it can't be accurately said that BYU was being included simply out of courtesy. Not only does making Parker's top five indicate that, but I've been told his surprise trip to Provo at the end of August was to inform Dave Rose that he was serious about BYU regardless of what reports were out there.

The fact that Rose sold BYU hard enough to be in Parker's final five says a lot about the growth of BYU basketball and the abilities of Coach Rose.

Without Parker, all is not lost. The 2013 class of BYU hoops may still be its best ever, as the class includes two top-100 recruits in Nick Emery and Eric Mika. Other recent commitments include Cory Calvert (2012), the Colorado 5A player of the year who has fared quite well so far this season; and T.J. Haws (2014), who may end up a top-100 recruit for his class when all is said and done.

But none of that can replace the daydreams of seeing Parker in BYU blue.

Regardless, I'll be rooting for his success. He deserves it.