Appreciating WIU's Terell Parks

Western Illinois is off to a 4-3 (1-1) start this season after topping in-state foe Eastern Illinois by 16 points last weekend in front of a crowd of 1,624 at Western Hall. When the Leathernecks draw a crowd of that size and beat a school like EIU by double digits, you know things are starting to look up in Macomb. While Ceola Clark's return from injury has been invaluable to the team's progress, the most impressive performers thus far have been newcomers. Freshmen Obi Emegano and Remy Roberts-Burnett have been great for Coach Jim Molinari while playing major roles. Emegano has emerged as a guy who can get his own shot or draw fouls, filling the whole left by Matt Lander. Roberts-Burnett, meanwhile, has given the Leathernecks a spark off the bench at the guard spot, which is something they missed last season. The biggest impact, though, has been felt by a junior college transfer by the name of Terell Parks. The 6-foot-7 junior has given the Leathernecks a bruising presence in the paint.

Through seven games, Parks is averaging a double-double in points and rebounds while playing about 26 minutes per game. What's most impressive is the rate at which he grabs boards on both ends of the floor. Consider the following tables listing the top five Summit League players in defensive rebounding rate and offensive rebounding rate.

Among those playing 20+ mins/game through games played 12/14/2011

Player	Defensive Rebounding Rate
Terell Parks	34%
Corey Petros	23%
Trey McCorkle	22%
Michael Craion	20%
Alex Young	20%

Player	Offensive Rebounding Rate
Christian Siakam	15%
Steven Roundtree	15%
Terell Parks	14%
Michael Craion	13%
Corey Petros	12%

Parks has already established himself as one of the best overall rebounders in the Summit League. He's only played seven games, but his numbers have remained steady across different levels of competition. He should be able to keep up his solid performance on the glass throughout league play. Having a guy who can attack the glass on both ends of the floor has greatly aided the Leathernecks, especially since as a whole they are a smaller ballclub this year.

Offensively, Parks does most of his work close to the basket, which is a major reason why he's currently connecting on 66 percent of his two-pointers. He's been averaging about eight field goal attempts per game, which might be a bit low given how reliable he has been thus far. If his teammates could get him even four more shot attempts per game, it's unlikely that his shooting percentages would drop much. He could drop six percentage points and still be hitting 60 percent of his twos!

Though Parks is a big athlete with long arms, he's actually been a better pickpocket than shot blocker, as he's currently swiping a little more than one ball per game. Generating turnovers is great, but what the Leathernecks will need most from him in conference play is an ability to generate stops against scoring forwards like Oral Roberts' trio of bigs and IPFW's Trey McCorkle. If he can do that as conference play goes along while chipping in some points of his own, Parks could end this season as the centerpiece player on a team that has potential to make some noise in league play.