Local High School Players Changing Schools

[50's PONY]

August 28, 2009
More players on the move...
By Van Coleman [email protected]

More players seem to be on the move this fall, as a number of top prospects change high schools...

It seems like more players than normal are switching high schools, we've already noted over twenty transfers this fall, but according to our good friend Clark Francis of the Hoopscooponline.com a number of top prospects have, or will be moving this fall.

6-8 Julian Washburn and 6-7 sophomore Chris Washburn the sons of former NBA big man Chris Washburn are leaving Duncanville, TX to trek across the country to play at Elizabeth, NJ St. Patrick's with Michael Gilchrist and Kyrie Irving. Their addition will make Kevin Boyle's squad a legitimate national title contender along with Oak Hill and Findlay Prep!

Duncanville also lost 6-0 Baylor signee Jamison Stearns who returned to Waxachachie, TX. Duncanville will have two new additions to pick up the slack in 6-3 Bakari Turner (from Plano West) and 6-1 junior Deon Houston (from God's Academy & Grand Prairie); they will join summer sensation 6-11 Perry Jones to keep Duncanville in the hunt for a state crown.

Another Texas School that Francis says is loading up with talent is Arlinton Grace Prep as they have added Jamal Branch (as we had reported earlier) along with our No.2 rated sophomore 6-11 Isaiah Austin and his sophomore teammates from Mansfield Legacy Prep, 6-8 Nick Banyard and 6-1 Ricky Roberts. They will be a power from day one in the Dallas area.

Another top ten sophomore, No.9 rated Wannah Bail ( Houston The Village) is also on the move and will land at Houston Lutheran North this fall.

As we told you last week 6-7 Tony Mitchell would be leaving Miami, FL Choice Academy and it looks like he will strengthen the Texas senior class and could enroll at Dallas Pinkston. Stay tuned on this one, but it appears to be a done deal.

We are currently working on the rising junior class and should have the Top 50 posted by tomorrow morning, then will complete the top one hundred through the weekend. Next week we will update the Class of 2010, so watch for those updates right here at Hoopmasters.com.

[indianmustang]

maybe we can get one of them

[Hoop Fan]

there are reasons that kids change schools from time to time, but its terrible how much these top players are jumping around to different schools. high schools need to stop recruiting.

[EastStang]

Hoop fan, I tend to agree with you about the evils of kids changing schools. However, in some cases these kids are leaving public schools for college preparatory or parochial schools that will give them a better education, discipline and a better chance at life after basketball (if they don't make it to the NBA). However, there are now a ton of HS diploma mills that don't offer them these benefits and actually make them worse academically, less disciplined (more coddled) and give them zero chance at life after basketball. I think parents need to consider if the school they are attending offers them the best academic choices for their needs and if not, does another school offer them that chance. Even the most gifted kid in basketball still faces long odds of getting into the NBA and yet has a great chance to earn a great education if they are prepared for it.

[friarwolf]

Eaststang, you have a far more optimistic view on this than I. I seriously doubt any of these kids are transferring to get a better education along with playing. They are transferring where they think they can better showcase their skills to get into a favored college for their one year before they leave for the draft. Sadly, most of these kids won't even make it through their one year in college, let alone get drafted.......It amazes me how quickly the system has devolved into this approved moving around simply for showcase reasons. Doesn't seem that long ago that coaches and schools at least made an effort to not allow kids to transfer for thinly veiled athletic reasons..............

[PonyDoh]

Eaststang, you have a far more optimistic view on this than I. I seriously doubt any of these kids are transferring to get a better education along with playing. They are transferring where they think they can better showcase their skills to get into a favored college for their one year before they leave for the draft. Sadly, most of these kids won't even make it through their one year in college, let alone get drafted.......It amazes me how quickly the system has devolved into this approved moving around simply for showcase reasons. Doesn't seem that long ago that coaches and schools at least made an effort to not allow kids to transfer for thinly veiled athletic reasons..............

honestly, I know why you feel this way, and it makes sense to a point. That said, it's not about academics, it's about getting cleared to play at the next level. Some kids need situations catered to qualifying, w/o getting into the broader goal of better education. Looking at that list, few of them are upgrading for profile & showcase reasons. Many are actually going to schools that make less sense from a profile standpoint.

[EastStang]

Since I live in the DC area, the best basketball league in the area top to bottom is the Metro Conference (Catholic schools). In that conference you have DeMatha, Gonzaga, St. Johns, Good Counsel, Paul IV, O'Connell, McNamara. They recruit a lot of kids from DC public schools. All of these schools offer a great education and the kids have to study. In the IAC the prep school league some schools offer scholarships. St. Albans, Georgetown Prep, Landon, Episcopal are premier prep schools. In the MAC - Sidwell Friends has long had a great scholarship program. Now most of these schools are not boarding schools and so, they don't recruit outside of DC. On the other hand there are some new schools cropping up which I've never heard of and which there are whispers. Stu Vetter has a reputation for bringing great players to play for him at schools which were never on the map before he got there. Now further south in Virginia you have several prep schools like Fork Union Military Acadmey, Hargrave Military, Oak Hill Prep which are good schools and are good college prep schools. So here, we don't see any exodus of talent, since many of them move from public schools to excellent local private or parochial schools.