He said he did not feel pressured to stay close to home, however.
"I really don't think there would have been any pressure at all to stay home, be around the people you've been around and just be a hometown hero," Parker said. "I don't think that's pressure. I think that's kind of the easy way out. If you go somewhere far, that's pressure. I think I'm probably coal and I'll be a diamond by the time I get to UCLA."
