There was a time when Raleigh was, somehow, more or less a recruiting backwater in the middle of one of the nation's great basketball regions. There were the occasional exceptions, but other than the great Pete Maravich and Duke's Randy Denton, there really weren't that many prominent players to come out of Raleigh for a long time.
That's changed lately.
In recent years, Raleigh has sent players to Florida State, Wake Forest, Maryland, and a number of other schools as well, and of course Shavlik Randolph to Duke. Toss in neighboring Garner, which has kicked out Donald Williams, David West and James Mays in recent years, and now Ryan Kelly and John Wall, and it's a veritable hotbed.
Kelly and Wall will play Saturday night in the Jordan Brand Classic All-American high school basketball game.