Fast Break - the fifth estate

Broadcast DATE: Friday, March 2, 2012

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Fast Break

It's the dream of thousands of young Canadians: a shot at basketball superstardom by breaking in to the NBA. Last year, Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph made history --becoming the first two Canadians selected together in the first round of the NBA draft.

And there is no shortage of other Canadian kids -- and parents -- willing to do anything to follow in their footsteps. Pro basketball is a billion-dollar business, and with stakes that high the search for new talent is beginning earlier and earlier: it's predicted the game's next great player will be spotted in elementary school.

In Fast Break the fifth estate's Bob McKeown reveals the mysterious machinery that feeds pro basketball's star-making system: shady "prep schools" where aspiring ball players -- who pay big bucks to be there -- attempt to make the grade for university without setting foot in the classroom.

We'll meet two young Canadians whose parents have put everything on the line -- one of them going so far as to sell the house -- to help their children chase the dream. And we tell the story of a Toronto man who has become a legend in finding the next young recruits.

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