More
- Classifieds
- Cars
- Deals
- Real Estate
- Rentals
- Photos
- Find&Save
- Obituaries
- Archives
- Topics
- Blogs
- WP Wine Club

Washington, D.C.: The nation’s high school basketball capital

By Brandon Parker,January 18, 2013

View Photo Gallery - : D.C. area basketball players who took their game to the next level: The…

Despite all that was at his disposal at Arlington Country Day, from the school’s rich basketball history to the recruiting hotbed that sizzled under the Jacksonville, Fla., sun, Junior Etou often longed for the offseason. It was then that the 6-foot-7 forward would suit up for the D.C. Assault Amateur Athletic Union team, joining what he saw as the nation’s top talent while getting tips from Michael Beasley, Keith Bogans and other prominent high school alums prone to show up at any given practice.

With the likes of Maryland, Clemson and Temple showing increased interest and a growing desire to prove he was more than just a shot blocker, Etou moved to the D.C. area this past spring and enrolled at O’Connell for his senior season.

“Playing AAU, I saw [the D.C. area] was the best competition in the country and I thought it would be the best place to grow as a player,” said Etou, who is averaging 15.3 points and 11.9 rebounds for the Knights this season. “The guys play harder and have more skills here.”

Etou isn’t alone in his assessment of the boys’ basketball talent in the region, one with roots of national prominence that reach back some 40 years. So far this season, five D.C. area teams (DeMatha, Gonzaga, Montrose Christian, O’Connell and Paul VI) have made appearances in ESPN’s top 25 high school basketball poll while DeMatha’s BeeJay Anya leads nine local players who hold a four-star rating or better across ESPN’s junior and senior class rankings. This weekend, DeMatha, Gonzaga and Montrose Christian will take to the national stage at the Spalding Hoophall Classic, an annual tournament known for drawing the country’s best teams onto the floor and top college coaches into the stands at Springfield College in Massachusetts for the nationally televised showcase.

The area’s perfect storm of nationally regarded talent, respect and expectations is why Marcus Derrickson, a Maryland native, found himself counting down the days until he could join the high school basketball scene. And now that he’s a sophomore at Paul VI with offers from Georgetown, Indiana and Maryland, Derrickson welcomes the prospect of facing a top team or recruit each time he takes the floor, as was the case for him and Paul VI in December.

After opening the season against Gonzaga , a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference rival featuring the nation’s No. 73 senior in Kris Jenkins, the Panthers knocked off national power Oak Hill Academy, 56-54, in double overtime five days later at the National High School Hoops Festival. The result marked the first loss in 56 games for the Warriors, who boast Nate Britt, a senior guard bound for North Carolina and a D.C. native.

“Before I started playing in high school, I knew the talent level in this area was high with guys like Kevin Durant playing at Montrose [Christian] and all the WCAC schools around, so there’s sort of a responsibility to live up to what they accomplished in high school,” said Derrickson, who averages a team-high 12.6 points. “Beating Oak Hill felt good. Nobody wants anybody to come in and outcompete them because we take pride in representing this area.”

How basketball took over

In the minds of many teenage players and middle-aged coaches, the D.C. region has always been a high school basketball hotbed. But before the likes of Durant, Elgin Baylor, Adrian Dantley and Rudy Gay graced this area, legendary DeMatha coach Morgan Wootten can remember a time when basketball was a one-season afterthought.

“If you go back to when I played at Blair and graduated in 1950, basketball was three months, about 20 games, and that was it,” said Wootten, 81. “I like to think one of the things that got the area going was when me and Joe Gallagher started the Metropolitan Area Basketball School in 1961, and that was the first day basketball camp. People said the kids wouldn’t come because it was too hot in summer, but we had 24 kids the first year for nine weeks. It grew to the point of a year-round philosophy where in the mid-60s, Red Auerbach said there’s not a better area for basketball than D.C.”

Around that same time, Wootten’s DeMatha squad had shaken up the high school basketball landscape by beating Lew Alcindor’s (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) Power Memorial Academy in 1965, ending the New York school’s 71-game win streak. The contest marked Alcindor’s lone high school loss as well as the first sellout in the history of the University of Maryland’s Cole Field House.

“That was the first high school game that brought national attention,” said Wootten, who went 1,274-192 in 46 years leading the Stags. “After that, the impact was tremendous and all of a sudden, a great interest developed in this area.”