King’s Fork senior Jaquon Parker has made a verbal commitment to attend and play basketball at Old Dominion.

Parker plans on transferring to a prep school, then signing with ODU during the fall and begin playing for the Monarchs in the 2010-11 season.

Parker, a 6-foot-4 guard/forward for the Group AAA state champion Bulldogs and the VHSCA (Virginia High School Coaches Association) Group AAA Player of the Year, averaged 18.5 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game as King’s Fork went 31-1 this season.

Parker selected the Monarchs among a number of larger basketball programs which recruited him. According to King’s Fork head coach Joshua Worrell, Parker was scheduled to visit the University of Cincinnati later this week, but will no longer make the trip. Connecticut, Marquette, Virginia and LaSalle were among other schools interested in Parker.

“He wanted to stay close to home and he thinks Old Dominion is the best place for him,” said Worrell.

“He feels very comfortable at ODU and he thinks he’ll be able to represent this area well.”

“He said, ‘I can do the same things at ODU as somewhere else,” said Worrell.

Old Dominion finished 25-10 this season and won the first-ever Collegeinsider.com postseason tournament, beating Bradley in the final. ODU was 12-6 in the Colonial Athletic Association. Blaine Taylor is entering his ninth season as Old Dominion’s head coach.

Parker will join another Suffolk graduate, Nansemond River’s Nick Wright, on ODU’s team. Wright was a true freshman for the Monarchs this season.