Middle School Is Basketball’s Fiercest Recruiting Battleground - ALL-MET ELITE

Middle School Is Basketball’s Fiercest Recruiting Battleground
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ALL-MET ELITE

 

The high caliber of high school basketball in this region and the resulting pressure placed on coaches to win have fostered a fierce recruiting environment focused on players who are much too young to drive anywhere but to the basket. 

      

Although private schools recruit middle school students in other major metropolitan areas, both openly and discreetly, the minimal regulation of the practice here and the desire to uncover the next Kevin Durant — a product of a Washington-area private school who has blossomed into an N.B.A. star with Oklahoma City — has led to an aggressive pursuit of players beginning with fifth graders.

 

It is common to find as many as 15 coaches from Washington-area private schools watching a summer tournament game involving middle school players. D.C Assault 14U AAU coach Zach Suber said nine of his players were recruited to the ultracompetitive Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, which features traditional powers like DeMatha, Gonzaga College High School and Archbishop Carroll High School.

 

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 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/sports/basketball/in-washington-area-private-high-schools-fight-for-basketball-recruits.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&