"Taking it south brings you closer to the center of the state's basketball talent pool. The road slopes downward as the city's cosmopolitan polish thins out, neighborhoods split cleanly from downtown by sun-baked concrete and beige. Pink, green, and blue houses sit behind chain link fences, where yards are scoured down to dirt. Auto mechanic shops line the frontage roads with open bays and hand-painted signs peeling in the sun."
"Duncanville isn't an outlier. It's the clearest expression of how serious North Texas has become about harvesting basketball lightning. Dallas is the incubator. Duncanville is the headquarters. Two of the nation's most important high school basketball buildings sit here. First, Duncanville High School holds more basketball memory than some professional arenas. State titles in 2019, 2021, and 2025, led by NBA rising stars Anthony Black and Ron Holland II, hang as proof."
Dallas and its suburbs, particularly Duncanville, have become major centers for producing NBA talent. The route south from downtown reveals neighborhoods transitioning from cosmopolitan polish to sun-baked, chain-link-fenced residential blocks and auto shops, then into Duncanville's basketball heart. Duncanville High School houses extensive basketball history and recent state titles in 2019, 2021, and 2025, and has produced six NBA players in the last five years, including Anthony Black and Ron Holland II. Texas's UIL stripped Duncanville's 2022 Class 6A championship after eligibility violations tied to improper enrollment and academic ineligibility. The 2020 season was canceled.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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