Human Smuggling for the Sake of... Basketball?

​Miami New Times' feature this week starts with a riveting scene from a high school basketball game three years ago.

Rick Medvin, head coach for the Fort Lauderdale Christian High boys' basketball team, stands on a court in Fort Lauderdale and watches as the opposing team walks out.

That team came from the Center of Life Academy (CLA) in Miami. Eleven of its 14 players stood over six-foot-three.

The players' heights sound normal, right? Only if this were an NBA team. But the fact is that CLA's head coach, Bernard Wright, was working with a student body of only 50 students, and the likelihood of that population containing that many tall boys is very slim.

Behind closed doors, other coaches in the area wondered if Wright was recruiting players, which is against Florida High School Athletic Association's rules.

It turns out that's exactly what was happening. But Wright's actions weren't just a matter of recruiting but in fact bordered on human smuggling.

To learn more about what happened to Wright and where his players came from, check out Miami's feature called "Coach Bernard Wright's Talent Trap."

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