It’s not clear how many high school basketball players think seriously about playing in the NBA. It’s entirely clear that most never will.

Nobody knows those cold stats better than Frederick Smith Jr., co-founder and managing partner of HoopTV.net, a digital video basketball scouting and recruiting service that leverages DV cameras and Power Mac G5s to expose and showcase the talents of high school players — particularly those unlikely to go pro — for college coaches.

“There are only 30 jobs in the NBA given up every year that are guaranteed money, but half the kids here this weekend think they’re going to the NBA” said Smith, working the crowd outside the Durango High School gym in Las Vegas, where he’s covering two tournaments for elite high school travel teams, the Double Pump Easter Tournament and the Hal Pastner Spring Showcase.

Will Travel for Scholarship

Smith points out that even for select players on tournament travel teams, half is a hopelessly unrealistic projection for NBA uptake. But a high school player’s odds improve considerably when a college scholarship, rather than steady work with the Lakers, is the goal.

“If you look at the fact that there are 330 Division I, 400 division II, and 400 division III schools, not to mention junior colleges and prep schools, each with 10 to 15 players, then all of a sudden you’re talking about tens of thousands of opportunities,” he says.

“The backbone of our business is parents and high school coaches hiring us to shoot their games, do highlight reels, come to this school, cover that game.”

To vie for these scholarships, the best regional high school players compete on travel teams during spring and summer, after their high school seasons end. “They come to the tournaments from all over the country hoping to be seen by college coaches,” says Smith.

How they get seen — now and in the near future — is precisely what Smith is hoping to change with HoopTV.net.

Regulated Watching

According to NCAA rules, college coaches can personally evaluate a high school player only during the regular high school season, roughly late fall through late winter — an inconvenient to impossible schedule clash with their own season commitments — and for limited times during post-season tournaments, two weeks each in April and July.

“At the tournaments, Division l coaches can take a coach’s packet and follow a prospective team or recruit. The rest of the time they can’t talk to players, but they can send letters,” he says.

Soliciting videos in those letters is not allowed, but players are free to send unsolicited tapes or DVDs to coaches, often with HoopTV.net acting as chief enabler. “What we’re doing is, number one, helping parents,” says Smith. “The backbone of our business is parents and high school coaches hiring us to shoot their games, do highlight reels, come to this school, cover that game.”

And thanks to a recent NCAA ruling, HoopTV.net will soon be able to offer significantly more help to college coaches. “The new ruling allows college coaches to view games streamed on our website, full-frame, full-screen video, any time of year, not just during evaluation periods,” he says. “Instead of waiting from April to July to see a game or kid they missed, they’ll just tune into HoopTV.net.”

Full Court Press

Pushing enough high-quality content to satisfy eager players and exacting coaches means pulling long hours in lots of gyms in many states. Smith, a former high school basketballer, has logged even more significant gym time since 1976 as an Emmy-award winning sports television editor, videographer and producer in Los Angeles covering the Lakers, NBA, Summer Pro Leagues and 10 NCAA Final Fours.

“I’ve been around this game a while,” says Smith. “Sports television is what I know, and I’m trying to bring it to a different plane with HoopTV.net.”

To get it there, Smith and his crews travel year round, attempting to close the enormous gap between players desperate to be seen and coaches eager to find them.

Cover Strategy

Covering 10 quick players who go vertical as easily as they run the court with just one video camera is magician’s work. But Smith, working an important tournament match up in Las Vegas, seems unfazed, easily shooting tight floor-level angles in a crowded auxiliary gym.

Next page: Building a Basketball Universe