"You would think he would be eager to rush back"? Who are you are you, him?
Something like that affects different people differently. His dad was his basketball coach, maybe he wants to stay the hell away from the court for awhile. I don't know and neither do you.
My expectations for Parker were never that high as a player, I think people that are expecting a versatile three point shooting savior are setting themselves up for disappointment. He's a slightly above average shooter with decent size.
That said, I never expected him to play this year. Even beyond the effect on team chemistry, to let a guy you just picked up mid season eat up minutes from players that have been apart of the team activities, workouts, ect...all year. It sends a bad message.
Just let him heal, he's been through a lot and hopefully he'll come ready to ball next year.
I'm just commenting; is this not the IU fan site to discuss happenings with our team? Did I stumble into the IU huddle with team members reading our thoughts? If Parker or any player is reading my posts and feeling pressure from them, our program has even bigger problems than I thought, but it might explain a lot of the futility of the last 20 years. Trust me, more than most I would guess, I want him to heal and get over his loss and move forward. I was merely speculating on how a college athlete would be most likely to do that based on my experience. It's been 40+ years since my Dad died, and I'm fine with it, but having folks say "I'm sorry for your loss" just in a couple posts, while nice, still makes me uncomfortable, and for me and many, that's the worst in moving forward. Normal is what most crave and "doing something" or having a goal and accomplishing something helps get there. (That's also what most therapists suggest: get back in there, find an outlet; don't dwell on grief and sadness"). Parker has a new goal in front of him, so I think it would be unusual for someone to not plunge in, but merely my speculation.