Gregg Doyel

gregg.doyel@indystar.com

Southport senior Paul Scruggs is the latest Division I basketball recruit to leave the Indianapolis-area for a prep powerhouse — and the third serious candidate to remove himself from the running for 2017 IndyStar Mr. Basketball.

Depending on who’s doing the talking, Scruggs’ transfer on Tuesday to Prolific Prep in Napa, Calif., is a logical decision — or a bizarre basketball move.

“It was a no-brainer,” Scruggs’ father, Dan, told me Tuesday.

“It’s chaos,” said a college basketball coach familiar with Scruggs, one of seven coaches I spoke with in an attempt to make sense of this story.

And I failed. Cannot make sense of it.

For one thing, Scruggs is transferring to a school that didn’t exist three years ago. For another, Prolific Prep isn’t a school at all. It’s a basketball team that sends its players to a Catholic school in Napa, Justin-Siena High School.

Prolific Prep has a website and a Twitter page, but no physical address.

You hear me? Paul Scruggs just transferred to a P.O. box.

“Recruiting has gotten weird, we all know that, but this is too much,” another college coach told me. “Transferring one month into your senior year? That’s weird. Going across the country? That’s weird.”

This story involves the often complicated relationship between high school and AAU. It involves a sneaker company. But I’ll start with a former NBA player named Gary Trent, whose son — Gary Jr. — is one of the top recruits in the Class of 2017.

Gary Trent Jr. is at Prolific Prep, his third school in five months. He’s best friends with Paul Scruggs. They’ve known each other since second grade, and were AAU teammates for years. The families are close.

Gary Trent Sr. called the Scruggs family a few weeks ago and suggested they give Prolific Prep a look for Paul’s senior year.

“Gary Sr. told me how good the program there was,” Dan Scruggs said. “It really piqued our curiosity, and I saw the opportunity for Paul to improve on his academic schedule and his basketball skill level.

“My wife and I, we’re very religious,” Dan Scruggs continued. “We prayed about it and asked the Lord which way we should go, and he directed us in that direction.”

The story could end right there. Or it could go in another direction, a direction that starts in the Crispus Attucks school district, where Paul Scruggs lived through eighth grade. Indy Hoosiers AAU coach Mike Peterson has coached Scruggs for nearly a decade, a relationship that started before Scruggs could dribble with his left hand. Peterson, a Southport graduate, suggested Paul attend Southport High to learn from a staff led by Kyle Simpson and included former Notre Dame standout Chris Thomas, the IndyStar Mr. Basketball in 2001.

In three years at Southport, Scruggs moved to within 55 points of Kellon Thomas’ all-time school record. Since Scruggs’ junior season ended at semistate, Peterson says, he has heard from prep schools around the country wanting Scruggs for his senior season.

“I had a million calls,” Peterson said, mentioning La Lumiere in La Porte and Huntington (W.Va.) Prep. Two other schools involved were Brewster (N.H.) Academy and Findlay (Nev.) Prep, Gary Trent Jr.’s school for a few weeks before he settled at Prolific Prep.

As August approached the plan was for Scruggs to return to Southport, and he has been in class there for several weeks. But in recent weeks the plan changed. Why? Depends on who’s doing the talking, but the timing is curious. It was early last month that saw the breakup of Scruggs’ high school coach and his AAU coach.

It’s confusing, but in a nutshell: Simpson was running the local AAU program, funded in part by Under Armor, that oversaw Peterson’s Indy Hoosiers. Two men with two different visions, Peterson took his Indy Hoosiers one way and Simpson took his Under Armor sponsorship another. Simpson is joining forces with former Broad Ripple, IUPUI and Indiana Pacers standout George Hill for an AAU program that will be called G3 Grind.

Peterson, who also is close to Gary Trent Sr., is still looking for his basketball landing spot, but told me he’s not worried about it. He has a son playing high school football. He has been working on a computer app that would track a youth basketball player’s diet, academics and more, and went this spring to Under Armor headquarters in Baltimore to work on it but couldn’t make a deal.

Recruiting profile: Southport's Paul Scruggs

What does the split of Scruggs’ high school coach and AAU coach have to do with his transfer to Prolific Prep — or “Pro Prep,” as the two-year-old basketball operation likes to be called? That’s a good question. Could be a coincidence.

“The timing is going to make it seem like it, but this has nothing to do with Kyle Simpson and Mike Peterson,” Peterson told me.

College coaches involved in Scruggs’ recruitment — he has been recruited hard by IU, Purdue, Xavier, UConn, Illinois and Michigan State, among others — don’t believe that.

“This is all about that rift,” one Division I coach told me.

“Everything was fine at Southport,” said another Division I coach, “until the drama started between the two coaches.”

Dan Scruggs says his son's transfer has nothing to do with that.

“We spent a little time talking about it, praying about it, and this is where God has led us,” he said of Prolific Prep.

Insider on prep school transfers: I hate it

Whatever the reason, Scruggs becomes the third Class of 2017 standout to leave the IHSAA and his shot at Indiana’s Mr. Basketball, joining Park Tudor’s Jaren Jackson Jr. (who transferred to La Lumiere) and Pike’s Justin Roberts (transferred to Findlay Prep).

How does the transfer impact Scruggs’ recruiting? Coaches involved say it shouldn’t matter much, noting that recruiting is a 26-mile marathon — “and we’re in mile 25,” one told me. Scruggs considered committing to IU after his freshman season but has moved closer to Xavier over time. UConn, however, has become a major player in recent weeks.

As for the kid himself — this is about the kid, I hope — Paul Scruggs has two goals: be academically eligible for Division I next fall, and be physically ready for major college basketball in one year and the NBA shortly thereafter. Scruggs and his parents flew to California this weekend to check out Prolific Prep.

Only his parents came back.

Scruggs stayed in Napa. He’s taking classes at a Catholic school, living with a host family and playing basketball for a P.O. box. I wonder how many people really know why Paul Scruggs is out there. I wonder if Paul Scruggs is among them.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.