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An Endless Summer League
Sidney's last in-season performance came in early 2005, when he led Peeples Middle School to an undefeated record, but college coaches have found him. Gibbons said those coaches first recommended Sidney, who can play inside and on the perimeter, for his Memorial Day weekend tournament last year.
Sidney receives about 10 letters a week from colleges, but coaches often go to other measures to try to cultivate a relationship with the player, the elder Sidney said. He said colleges several times have invited him to run a basketball camp at their school for a fee. He has done it once -- at a Southeastern Conference school -- but declined all other offers because he believes the schools only want to get close to his son.
 "I really don't look at high school basketball like I do AAU," said rising star Renardo Sidney. "It's not that important. I just like to win tournaments and rings and stuff like that." (Vickie D. King - The Clarion-Ledger) About This Series
During the year, The Washington Post will examine youth basketball in the United States. The lure of multimillion dollar contracts and the growth of college basketball have raised the stakes for young players, their parents, coaches and backers. Along the way, the nature of the game has been altered for thousands of kids.
THE PLAYER CHASEDecember 31: After a six-month investigation, The Washington Post has found that it is now common for college programs to make tax-deductible donations, usually through a booster, to AAU programs in an effort to land recruits.
July 14: Kene Obi still waits for clearance to play his first high school basketball game.
 July 6: Renardo Sidney has developed into a blue-chip recruit despite never having played in a high school basketball game.
 July 4: Being one of the country's best 10-year-old basketball players used to be worth a shelf-full of plastic trophies. Not anymore. Just ask Justin Jenifer.
Photos: Banking on a Prodigy
Video: Justin's Got Game
March 26: Jericho Christian Academy seeks a higher profile by using the lure of basketball, but it is a path that often comes at a price.
March 12: Stoneridge Preparatory School demonstrates how entire prep basketball squads are increasingly transferring together.
 March 5: The NCAA Clearinghouse certifies player's transcripts and grades without doing background checks on the validity of those documents.
THE PLAYER CHASE: THE EUROPEAN MODEL
To better understand the demise of U.S. basketball, reporter Michael Lee went to three countries whose teams have beaten the Americans to examine their player development system.
Dec. 18: Youth players who compete for Serbian club teams face unique economic and social pressures.
 Dec. 17: The European system for developing world-class basketball players can be a model for the U.S.
Graphic: Three basketball powers.
LIVE ONLINEThe Post's Eli Saslow was online to discuss Nigerian basketball players. Read the transcript.
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"It's legal," the elder Sidney said. "My thumb's up for that part. There is a bunch of stuff that goes on that is not legal, but I won't comment about that. I'm trying to make sure he is not doing anything illegal."
More than 10 high schools have expressed interest in Sidney, his father said. Sidney ruled out some because, he said, players on their teams told him they don't always have to do their own work to get grades.
But the Sidney family listened to one recruitment pitch, even though it began surreptitiously. Two men showed up in Mississippi, telling Sidney they were reporters with a new magazine in California and that he was the subject of their cover story.
His mother immediately called Vaccaro; the elder Sidney met the men for lunch. Vaccaro said he believes the two men were trying to persuade Sidney to transfer to Compton's Dominguez High, which is sponsored by Nike.
"It was scary," the elder Sidney said. "That was definitely a Hollywood act. They told me two names, but I don't know if that is their real name. They could have been posing for an agent. . . . So you just never know."
Sidney said he and his family later visited California and the men gave them tickets on the floor for a Los Angeles Lakers-Minnesota Timberwolves game.
"They took us to the Lakers game; we went out to eat every day," Sidney said. "We hung out, late nights and stuff. We had fun. They showed us a good time. They wanted me to come out here just to visit Dominguez and see if I would like it or whether I'd go to it. We stopped messing with them. I never thought about [Dominguez]. It was in the ghetto."
Their recruitment pitch included a phone call that the men said was from Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant. When Sidney got on the phone, the man purported to be Bryant and told him he should stay humble and work hard. To this day, Sidney doesn't know who he spoke to. Bryant could not be reached to comment.
Caught in the Middle
Sidney lives the life of someone teetering between the world of a teenager and a quasi-professional. One moment Sidney, polite and with only a wisp of facial hair under his nose, laments being booted off a Disneyland ride because he is too tall. The next, he goes head-to-head with 23-year-old Josh Childress, a double-digit scorer for the Atlanta Hawks, and is not-so-kindly reminded by his summer-league coach that he has "gotta work against NBA players!"
"He is one of a kind," said Cedric Bozeman, the former UCLA standout and one of a handful of former college players to train regularly with Sidney during his recent two-week visit to California.
Instead, he awaits his high school debut.
The elder Sidney believes his son's unique circumstance "gives high school basketball something to think about. A lot of high school coaches want to take credit for getting this kid to this college, getting this kid to that college, when it's definitely not true because kids get seen in the summer time, everyone knows that."
