Forget the latest fads in shoes, clothing and music -- there's another red-hot trend high school basketball players are jumping on: changing schools.
Player movement may have reached an all-time high this boys season. At least 14 local players transferred to other schools.
Some sought greater exposure. Others were motivated because of disciplinary or personal reasons, and some might have changed venues for academics.
Douglass and Towson Catholic lost three players apiece, but the former picked up three transfers.
In all, Douglass returns none of its starters from last season's Class 3A state championship team that finished 28-0. Player of the Year Tyler Smith and Darryl Edwards were lost to graduation.
Smith signed with DePaul University for next year and is playing at Philadelphia Lutheran Prep this season. Edwards is playing at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa.
All-Metro guard Gerald Brown and Dereck Brooks chose not to return for their senior years. Richard Dorsey, a 6-foot-8 All-Metro center, appeared to have a case for another year of eligibility, but he lost it after playing in an all-star game.
Brown is playing at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia after signing with Providence College. Brooks has returned to where he started, St. Frances.
After transferring from New Foundation, an alternative school with no basketball team, Dorsey attended Douglass for one season. He is playing at Mount Zion (N.C.) High and is being recruited by Cincinnati, Illinois and Florida State.
Rodney Coffield, the All-Metro Coach of the Year, found three transfers for this season in 6-7 Charles Brooks (from Patterson), 5-4 Jermaine Bolden (Northern) and 6-5 Darrell Clark (Southwestern).
Towson Catholic coach Mike Daniel lost three key players in 6-10 Byron Joynes to Oak Hill, 6-8 Matt Stevenson to Loch Raven and 6-3 Keith Mallory to Woodlawn.
The Baltimore Catholic League added four former public school players. Cardinal Gibbons recruited two of them: Kenwood forward Leon Williams and guard Kerwin Porter, who started as a freshman at Chesapeake-Anne Arundel last season.
Rudy Gay, a 6-7 standout, jumped from Eastern Tech to top-ranked Archbishop Spalding at the start of the school year.
Overlea's top player, 6-4 junior Mo Martin, transferred to Calvert Hall a month ago.
Finally, Wilde Lake lost 6-7 junior Aris Williams to Georgetown Prep in Washington.
Et cetera
Keon Lattimore, a second-team All-BCL swingman last year, has decided not to play his senior year at Mount St. Joseph so that he can concentrate on football. (Lattimore has yet to commit for football.) He will train with University of Maryland basketball trainer Kurtis Shultz, who is also the trainer for Lattimore's half-brother, Ray Lewis. ... Coach Meredith Smith is on a yearlong sabbatical from Southern-Baltimore, where he is 398-144 (.742) in 21 seasons. Longtime assistant Mike Wise has taken over. Other new area coaches include: Dana Johnson (Southside), Andre Carr (#418), Presell Braxton (#419), Matt Jurgensen (Havre de Grace), Rich Hambor (Catonsville), John Baursfield (Western Tech), Troy Stevenson (Parkville), Marvin Thorpe (Howard), Jim Rhoads (Hereford), Greg Mihalko (South Carroll), Craig Abercrombe (North Carroll), Brett Kanther (Westminster), George Wunder (Century) and Kevin Timmons (Owings Mills). ... Two BCL coaches are well within reach of victory milestones: Jerry Savage (Loyola) is three wins from 600; Cokey Robertson (St. Maria Goretti) is 11 wins shy of becoming only the second state coach to 700. ... DeMatha's Morgan Wootten retired with a career record of 1,274-192 in 46 seasons, which is a national record in terms of victories. His winning percentage (.869) is tops in Maryland history and second nationally behind William Kean of Louisville (Ky.) Central High. Kean (1923-58) posted a record of 856-83 (.912). Annapolis' John Brady (534-93 in 25 seasons) now has the best winning percentage (.852) of any active coach in Maryland with 25 or more seasons. He is also believed to have the highest active winning percentage nationally over the same time period. ... No. 3 Annapolis and Thomas Johnson will play the first high school game at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center at 1:30 p.m. Saturday as a part of the four-game Morgan Wootten Invitational. Top-ranked Archbishop Spalding follows at 3 p.m. against Archbishop Molloy of New York. The other matchups include O'Connell vs. Eleanor Roosevelt (4 p.m.) and Magruder vs. DeMatha (7 p.m.). ... Spalding's Will Bowers, 7-0, 250 pounds, grew an inch and gained 25 pounds since last season. ... Cardinal Gibbons opened last weekend by capturing the Altoona (Pa.) Shootout with victories over Canada's Cathedral, 81-67, and host Bishop Guilfoyle, 55-45. Brett Foelber, a 6-6 junior, had 21 points and 20 rebounds for the Crusaders to take Most Valuable Player honors. ... Glenelg Country senior Sean Rozanski, who averaged 26.9 points last season as a junior, will soon crack 1,000 career points. ... Francis Scott Key senior Chris Bassler (6-5), who averaged 17.0 points and 11.1 rebounds last season, is Carroll County's only returning All-County player.