In this article, the author talks about Darcy Frey's famous book "The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams," which was published in 1994. In his book, Frey describes Coney Island's urban renewal wherein most of the cottages and triple deckers had been replaced by a vast tract of housing projects where African Americans now reside. Dozens of basketball courts are filled nightly by restless teenagers, high school dropouts and aging players who never made it to college. Coney Island has a lot of talented basketball players but the problem for most of them is lack of academic skills. Many of these talented players have been forced to enroll at two-year colleges, as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires of players who do not make 700 in their SATs, before they can go on to Division I colleges. Players who do not go directly from a high school to a four-year college often never get to play top NCAA ball or earn their bachelor's degrees. Coaches when recruiting players do not explain to them that less than 1% of all the high school basketball players in the country will win a Division I scholarship and that just 1% of all Division I basketball players ever make it to the NBA. They are made to believe that they could become rich and famous by making basketball their life. Recruiters prey on these kids who live in the squalor of places like Coney Island who believe in the "myth of upward mobility through basketball." It is unfortunate that these kids are trading education for basketball failing to realize that the former would prepare them for reachable careers in the future.