In one fluid motion, Naji Hibbert came down with the rebound and threw a perfect outlet pass to a streaking Josh Selby, who finished with a one-handed slam. It looked as if they had been playing together for years.
And they have — as AAU teammates since elementary school. But the duo went their separate ways in high school, Hibbert landing at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore and Selby at The John Carroll School in Bel Air, Md. When they suit up again this coming winter, though, they will both be at Hyattsville hoops powerhouse DeMatha High.
Hibbert, a 6-foot-5 rising junior, and Selby, a 6-foot-2 rising sophomore, had intentions to come to DeMatha a year earlier. According to Stags Head Coach Mike Jones, Selby wanted to come after eighth grade, but Jones didn’t know about it, so there was nothing he could do. Earlier this summer, Jones said a family friend of Selby’s tipped him off about Selby’s desire to transfer.
It’s clear that the family friend wasn’t Hibbert.
“I actually didn’t know he was transferring until the end of the year,” Hibbert said. “We both shocked each other when we saw each other at DeMatha.”
Jones receives dozens of transfer inquiries each summer from kids who want to play for DeMatha. He has to decide on which, if any, to take based on academics, talent and how they meshed with their previous team, among many other factors. The decision to take these two probably wasn’t one of his toughest.
Jones needed to fill the backcourt voids left by the departures of Jeff Peterson (Iowa), Austin Freeman (Georgetown) and Isaiah Tate (George Mason). Hibbert is rated as a top-50 player nationally by scouting services and Selby made Sports Illustrated’s Fantastic 5 Freshmen list last year.
The lofty credentials, though, won’t mean a thing when they step on the court.
“I really don’t look into that,” Selby said. “I just keep working hard. Because frankly, it really doesn’t mean nothing.”
Jones sat courtside inside the sweaty High Point High School gym, watching Selby and Hibbert orchestrate a dominant 73-59 win over C.H. Flowers.
“Their ceiling depends on how hard they’re going to work and how much time they’re going to put in,” Jones said. “They compare very favorably in terms of skill and talent to everybody that you would think of in the last 10 years at DeMatha.”
