5-Star Basketball Recruit Commits to Phantom Prep School

Skal Labissiere will jump through some strange hoops in order to play basketball during his senior year of high school. 

ESPN Radio Memphis’ John Martin brings us Labissiere’s story, which, to date, includes emigration, an ineligibility ruling and a commitment to a school that doesn’t exist yet. 

Ranked No. 11 in ESPN’s 2015 college basketball recruiting class, Labissiere is a 6’10” center from Haiti living in Memphis, Tennessee. He has offers from Division I powerhouse programs that include Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgetown and Memphis, among others.

An eligibility problem stands between Labissiere and his college hoop dreams, however, and his legal guardian, Gerald Hamilton, looks to be seeking a creative remedy to the issue.

Hamilton’s plan appears to include Labissiere committing to Reach Your Dream Preparatory Academy—a school that, to date, only exists as a pin on Google Maps.

Labissiere tweeted Monday night that he plans to play his senior year of basketball at RYDPA.

The announcement’s timing raised eyebrows, seeing as most schools are two months into their curriculum at this juncture.

Rivals.com’s Eric Bossi believes the conjured-up school and commitment are part of a last-ditch effort by Hamilton to address an ineligibility ruling levied on Labissiere.

The Tennessee School Secondary Athletic Association deemed the highly touted center ineligible for his senior year of basketball after he transferred from Memphis’ Evangelical Christian School to Lausanne Collegiate School.

Bossi’s belief is that Hamilton has set up RYDPA as a home school that will allow Labissiere to play for a “home school association team” while continuing to take classes at Lausanne.

Granted, what the TSSAA will think of Hamilton’s hastily made home-school-in-progress is yet to be seen. 

Sports Illustrated points out that the domain name for RYDPA was purchased within the last two months, and the school’s listed phone number apparently goes directly to Hamilton’s personal cell phone.

So, to sort out this fuzzy mess of details, Labissiere’s guardian (who is also in charge of the charitable organization that brought him to the United States), is ostensibly trying to keep the young star on the hardwood in some capacity this fall. Even if he played for a “home school” independent team, Labissiere’s participation would keep him eligible for potential McDonald’s All-American honors, which would boost his already sky-high recruitment stock.

So it’s not exactly the plot of Accepted. Rather, it appears to be a desperate attempt to keep a young talent's senior year from going to waste over a dumb transfer statute. We'll update as the story develops.

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