Down to a dribble

The previously rich Washington, D.C., basketball pipeline has slowed to a trickle.

The city game has fallen victim to a confluence of elements: the increased recruiting of private schools, the crumbling of the city’s public school system, the drug scourge and a changing entertainment landscape.

Bill Butler, athletics coordinator of the District’s Boys and Girls Club, remembers when it was different. He remembers convincing a handful of college basketball coaches attending the 1966 Final Four in College Park to watch some of his high school kids.

The out-of-towners saw the inner-city game played above the rim and quickly offered four scholarships. Within a few years, as college recruiters flocked to District schools, more than 200 of Butler’s players were competing in 63 cities.

That was then. Now, for instance, Miami’s Antoine Mayhand was the only District player in the ACC tournament earlier this month at MCI Center.

No city schools were ranked among the area’s top 20 programs in the Washington Post.

Neighborhood street games in the summer that once drew as many as 500 spectators have been lost to the traveling caravans of AAU.

The greatness of high school basketball in the District now lies in the memories of the old men who line the benches of Langston Golf Course arguing the merits of Elgin Baylor, Dave Bing and Adrian Dantley.

The barbershop debates are whether the James Brown now seen joking on Fox pregame football broadcasts was a better schoolboy star than Johnny Dawkins or JoJo Hunter.

Could William (aka Chicken Breast) Lee really grab a quarter off the back of the rim and leave two dimes and a nickel?

Those debates are not apt to be supplanted by new ones.

In the past generation, with increasing furor, private high schools have poached prospects from the District with the lure of a free scholarship, stronger academics and a chance to be seen by a greater number of college coaches.

District enrollment has dwindled, while suburban schools swell with transfer students. Outside influences — neighborhood recreation center closings, increased entertainment options and street drug problems — also have harmed the sport.

“Basketball has fallen off in D.C.,” Butler said. “In the early ‘80s, when drugs were rampant, kids lost interest in football and basketball. We do have good players, but the guys didn’t want to do anything … just hang in the neighborhoods. We’re just getting over it now.”

Recruiting wars

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