From left: Donovan Mitchell, ranked 31st-best high school player in the country; Jalen Adams, ranked 25th-best high school player in the country; Justin Simon, ranked 21-best high school player in the country. (Photograph by Trevor Reid)It’s a few minutes before tip-off on a chilly December night outside Brewster Academy’s Smith Center, a 50,000-square-foot athletic complex in New Hampshire with panoramic mountain views, but inside the athletes are heating up. Fifteen-foot jump shots fall softly through the iron, one after another, touching nothing but net. Players soar through the air like Cirque du Soleil acrobats, slamming down ferocious windmill and tomahawk dunks.
Given the level of talent on the court, though, the atmosphere in the stands is remarkably dead.There is no pep band here, nor cheerleaders, and no fans in face paint. There is no admission fee, either. For tonight’s game against New Hampton School, a rival in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class AAA division, the media presence consists of a single cameraman from the local public-access station and a pair of student broadcasters who stand behind the bench, their microphones plugged into an outlet in the floor. Even though the weeknight entertainment options are limited here, barely 300 students and locals walk through the front door.
On a card table near the entrance to the gym, several pale hot dogs spin rhythmically in a warming machine. Friday Night Lights and the glamour of bigtime high school sports feel a world away.Unnoticed by the modest crowd, Kansas State men’s basketball coach Bruce Weber has settled into the unforgiving wooden bleachers.
Just 20 hours earlier, his Wildcats, perennially among the nation’s top teams, won their fifth game of the year. Yet here he sits, holding a smartphone in one hand and a photocopied roster sheet in the other. When asked why he flew some 1,500 miles from the heartland to scout a game in rural New England, during the middle of his own grueling season, the only man in the building with a Final Four appearance under his belt smiles. “These kids,” he says, “are awesome.”Their names now are mostly unknown, though it’s a good bet that “these kids” will be playing in NCAA tournaments for years to come.
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Brewster’s first bucket comes seconds into the game when lefty David Crisp, who will suit up next season at the University of Washington, steps into a passing lane and knocks the ball free before threading a pass to guard Jalen Adams, who will attend the University of Connecticut next fall. Adams bursts up the floor and scores on a reverse lay-up.
Brewster’s opponents are no slouches: New Hampton forward Tyler Lydon has elected to play at Syracuse, and his teammate, A. Turner, will attend Boston College. But tonight the Huskies are no match for the Bobcats. In addition to Crisp and Adams, the team is sending guard Justin Simon to the University of Arizona and guard Donovan Mitchell to the University of Louisville, both ranked in the top 10. Ten minutes into the first half, Brewster takes a double-digit lead and never looks back.