Over time, high school basketball players and their families have tried just about everything in their pursuit of college scholarships. Year-round training regimens. Specialized coaching. Countless hours commuting to the powerhouse program with the famous coach. Jumping from school to school for the right fit.
But just when you thought you had heard everything, comes the latest trend: Top players are begging their parents to spend an extra year in middle school.
No, really.
All four of New Jersey’s top-rated players in the 2014 and 2015 national recruiting classes — Karl Towns of St. Joseph’s of Metuchen, Quadri Moore of Linden, Isaiah Briscoe of St. Benedict’s Prep and Malachi Richardson of Roselle Catholic — repeated a grade in middle school for one reason or another. And four of the five players on this season’s Star-Ledger all-state freshman/sophomore team (including Towns) also stayed back a year.
