Published on: Thursday, February 02, 2012

Analysis By Aaron Kasinitz

Both private school and public school teams are treating area fans to great high school basketball this year, but there are a few stark contrasts between the two types of programs that contribute to the landscape of high school basketball in the region.

The first major difference between public and private school programs lies within private schools’ ability to recruit players. 

Rockville basketball head coach G.J Kissal spent a decade on staffs of various private school teams before taking the job for the Rams, so he has been on both sides of the equation. “The biggest difference being at a private school is the ability to alter your talent base through recruiting,” said Kissal,  “it is a double-edged sword though, because your opponents have that ability as well.” 

Meanwhile, public school coaches can only improve their talent by convincing athletes that are within the schools feeding areas to stay at their school. But with the success of certain private school programs it is tough to convince a kid to stay at an average public school when he has the ability to play for local private schools that are nationally ranked such as DeMatha (Prince Georges County), Montrose Christian (Montgomery County), and Gonzaga (Washington D.C).

Kissal said, “We never try to tell a kid why he shouldn’t go to a private school, but we will explain why a kid would be successful at Rockville. Maybe we tell them that they can excel here academically and that there process to reach the varsity level will be accelerated here as compared to a top ranked private school.”

Not all private schools can recruit however, which creates a level of parity among many private and public school programs in the area. For instance, Montgomery County’s Avalon School is a private school that does not necessarily recruit athletes.

 “We don’t give scholarships for academics, but we hope good players will want to come here,” said Avalon Headmaster Kevin Davern, “we want to be a good athletic school, but we want to be a school first.”

While some private schools compete on a similar level as public schools, the ceiling is certainly higher for private schools. In other words, the best private schools are much better than the top public schools, particularly in this area that is home to three nationally ranked teams. 

The contrast between the elite private school and public school teams was stark in the early season matchup this year between DeMatha and Montgomery County’s best public school team, Magruder. In the game between two of the area’s top programs, DeMatha controlled the game from start to finish and cruised to 75-58 victory.

That was Magruder’s first game of the season and the only time they would square off against a private school opponent. Magruder has not lost since that game and has seemed unstoppable against other public school teams, but DeMatha, who has three other games to private school opponents, made the Colonels look less than immortal.

As for players there are advantages to playing at both a private and a public institution. At a public school, a player may be able to play varsity early on and stay very close to home, while they may get exposed to more colleges and play against better competition at a top-ranking private school.

Coaches, players, and fans of basketball are impacted by their schools’ status as public or private, but both types of institutions provide remarkable entertainment in one of the country’s meccas for high school basketball.