Will academies kill high school basketball?

For an increasing number of the nation's top basketball prospects, heading back to school in the late summer and fall means leaving home.

The lure of academy basketball is drawing top-shelf talent away from traditional high schools and to programs like Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.), Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) and Huntington Prep (Huntington, W.Va.), who offer specialized academic support, as well as year-around conditioning and practice.

From MaxPreps.com's Class of 2012 Top 100, 19 prospects will leave their hometowns for independent, out-of-area schools in search of exposure, improvement and a head start on experiencing the rigors of being a collegiate student-athlete. Eleven others are enrolled in basketball-centric but regionally-based and affiliated schools that may feature athletes from well beyond state and even national borders. 

"I definitely see a trend from a basketball standpoint," Huntington Prep head coach Rob Fulford said. "I think to some degree Findlay Prep helped popularize it with the lure of Las Vegas and the financial backing. They were able to jump start their program quicker than most. Steve Smith at Oak Hill Academy is really the pioneer going back almost 30 years."

No. 1 overall prospect Andre Drummond is among those foregoing the traditional route. The 6-foot-10, 255-pound center left Capital Prep (Hartford, Conn.) for nearby St. Thomas More (Oakdale) in 2009. Most make a bigger leap geographically, like Jordan Tebbutt of Tualatin, Ore., who will make the cross-country move to Oak Hill Academy next year.

According to Findlay Prep head coach Michael Peck and Fulford, little to no recruiting of athletes is done and most connections are made through inquiries by the prospect. Though they may be eager for the opportunity, leaving home is a major decision for both player and parents.

"That can be hard," Peck said. "These are not college-aged kids. Some are 15 or 16 years old. This isn't for everyone."

Milwaukee native Charles Lee played his senior season under Fulford at Huntington Prep. Thanks in part to the exposure he received there, the 5-10 point guard landed a scholarship at Cleveland State of the Horizon League.

"It was a tough decision to leave. I really hadn't been away from my house for more than two weeks my whole life," Lee said. "I had to get used to it and missed my family, but my mom and dad and sisters were real supportive."

Around a dozen Top 100-caliber prospects from the Class of 2013 are expected to attend academy-style programs in 2011-12. While the majority of players transfer prior to their junior or senior seasons, some – like Nigel Williams-Goss of Findlay Prep – have bypassed high schools completely and enrolled as a freshman.

"I think more parents are buying in to the fact that it is an option," Fulford said. "It's a little bit like your child is leaving early for college."

Smith's Oak Hill Academy program was one of the first to draw talent from around the country. The 2010-11 Warriors featured players from Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, New York, North Carolina and Virginia, as well as 6-9 post player Daniel Gomis of Nigeria, an Oregon State signee.

Fulford's Huntington Prep roster was even more geographically diverse with four players from Africa, four from Canada and one each from Indiana, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

"That was the best part about it," Lee said. "Being on a team with guys from different religions and different countries, that was a lot of fun."

Drawing talent, drawing ire

While the academies are seen and sold as a vehicle for improvement, not everybody is as enthusiastic about the independent entities, which operate outside the umbrella of the National Federation of State High School Associations and without regard to transfer rules.

In at least two high-profile cases involving Top 100-caliber prospects over the past three years, athletes have transferred mid-season and played games for the receiving school.

In part to curb the flow of talent to academy programs, several state associations – including the California Interscholastic Federation – ban member schools from playing teams not affiliated with the NFHS.

Oregon is the latest state to consider action after seeing Tebbutt, Williams-Goss and 6-9 post Landen Lucas all take their games out-of-state in recent years.

The Oregon School Activities Association mulled taking measures to prevent its members from playing the likes of Oak Hill Academy – a program that has traveled to the Beaver State five times since 1997 to participate in the Les Schwab Invitational. The Warriors are scheduled to participate again in 2011.

Findlay Prep's Peck is sympathetic to high school coaches.

"Losing a good player is hard," Peck said. "For those coaches it can be the difference between going 24-2 and winning a state title and a losing season. But we have also had the opposite end of the spectrum where they support it."

Fulford has a promising incoming classes lined up for next season, including 6-9 Columbus, Ohio, forward Elijah Macon and Michigan guards Javontae Hawkins and Ray Lee. Each of them were a key piece for their high school teams.

"Anytime you lose your best player, it's going to hurt your team," Fulford said. "Are they upset? Of course. But nine out of 10 times they are supportive because they know the player needs it. It may not be just basketball, it could be what neighborhood they live in, providing some structure, academics or just a change of scenery."

At least one coach who was not on board with a player departure was Dru Joyce of St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron, Ohio), who watched star forward Jakarr Sampson leave for Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro, N.H.) late last summer. Joyce coached LeBron James in high school and has produced several collegiate players and state championships since "The King" departed for the NBA in 2003.

Joyce even suggested colleges play a part in pushing players toward certain preparatory programs.

"I truly believe he still wants to be here, but they just tore him away from us," Joyce told popular Ohio high school sports site jjhuddle.com last August. "These programs don't try to keep the kids in their high schools. I have made notes on who those guys are."

Bringing the independents under one roof?

While the ESPN Rise National High School Invitational serves as an informal championship for many of the independent academy powers, there is no national association, governing body, conference alignment or official title to chase.

Scheduling can be a nightmare, with one unique program – Rise Academy in Philadelphia – playing everybody from varsity high school teams to junior colleges.

The idea of flying under a unified banner is appealing, according to Peck and Fulford. It's also probably far-fetched at this point.

"I think it would be beneficial to a lot of folks," Peck said. "Do I envision it happening? There are places that are attempting to make it happen, but there is a lot to it. I think it could be beneficial, most of all to the student-athlete."

"I think it would make sense," Fulford said. "Obviously you would have different problems within that in terms of travel, trying to play whoever is in the conference. I don't think that would be bad thing."

Despite missing many of its stars, high school basketball isn't in jeopardy of losing relevance in the immediate future. There simply aren't enough fully-funded academy programs to service all of the nation's budding hoops stars at this point.

But don't rule out a day where the basketball pipeline in the United States looks more like Europe's academy approach.

"Absolutely I could see it with the elite-level kids," Peck said. "People see what has happened with players like Cory Joseph, Tristan Thompson and Avery Bradley as a result of them being here. They don't want to plateau. They want to improve and get better at a faster rate than they would by going through a traditional high school in their hometown – experiencing the travel, living away from home, the game schedule, practice day in and day out."

Prominent independent basketball academies
Arlington Country Day (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Christian Life Center (Humble, Texas)
Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.)
Huntington Prep (Huntington, W.Va.)
Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.)
Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.)
Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.)
Quality Education Academy (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, N.J.)