Markelle Fultz is heading to Washington (Photo: Kelly Kline/Under Armour)

Take a look at the American Family Insurance ALL-USA preseason boys basketball team. Of the 20 players on the team, more than half will play for at least two schools over the course of their high school career. That’s a testament to the pull of travel-ball teams, fading loyalties and pragmatic opportunism.

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Instead of looking at the glass as half-empty, however, realize that in this day of elite players who always have a suitcase packed, almost as many players on the team became elite recruits without leaving home.

Alterique Gilbert, a speedy 6-1 senior point guard from Miller Grove (Lithonia, Ga.) who recently signed with Connecticut, and Washington signee Markelle Fultz, a 6-4 shooting guard from DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.), are good examples.

Miller Grove (Ga.) guard Alterique Gilbert is heading to UConn (Mike Weaver, Special to The Courier-Journal)

Gilbert, No. 28 in the ESPN 100, was good enough to start at Miller Grove as a freshman, but was willing to be the team’s sixth man.

“The moving around of guys is becoming very prevalent,” Miller Grove coach Sharman White said. “It’s gotten to the point where you hear about it every day, instead of just once in a while. Alterique is a very loyal kid. He’s one of a quite a few we’ve had who have gone wire-to-wire and it has a lot to do with the character he has as a person. We try to stay out of the business of fighting for kids. We make sure a player understands that we are going to do everything in our ability to make you a better player.”

Fultz didn’t get to play on the varsity until last season as a junior. Prior to that, he played on the JV team.

“Clearly, he’s progressed beyond what anybody could have imagined,” DeMatha coach Mike Jones said. “He comes from a very strong family. His circle is very small and I say that because a lot of the guys who get in guys’ ears about going to other places, he doesn’t have those people talking to him. His mom runs his house and runs that thing and she doesn’t allow him to be around people who are going to give him advice when they don’t have any say or any vested interest.”

Fultz, who has skyrocketed to No. 12 in the ESPN 100, grew up knowing DeMatha’s tradition and stuck with the school despite not making the varsity cut as a sophomre.

“He grew up wanting to be on DeMatha,” Jones said. “The disappointment of not being on varsity as a sophomore didn’t change that. He still wanted to be here and put in the work that it required. He’s an example to other guys, that maybe this is the right way to do things. When times get tough, you fight through. You don’t just tuck tail and go someplace else.”