When M.S. 279, a middle school in the Fordham Heights section of the Bronx, lost its boys' basketball program to budget cuts last year, it should have been a disaster. The juking and howling and running inside the school's cramped gymnasium three afternoons a week would suggest otherwise.

The kids are still putting their playground moves to use. Stutter-steps, dropped shoulders and ball fakes. Except the ball they're faking with is white, egg-shaped and never bounces the same way twice. That's because M.S. 279's favorite sport...