Nathan Hale, my local high school, went 29-0, won the state championship last season, and was the number one team in the nation. Yet, the year before its record was 2-18. It had never won a state championship and never been considered a serious contender in high school basketball. Next season, it probably will be back to its usual performance. So how did this happen? Has the “one-and-done” that has become very common in college basketball filtered down to the high school level?

An interesting set of circumstances led to amazing talent joining Nathan Hale this past season and then, at the end of the championship season, it disappeared as quickly as it came. It started with a vacancy in the head-coaching job for the Nathan Hale team. The school hired Brandon Roy, former NBA All-Star and Portland Trailblazer, as its coach.

Next, the University of Washington hired a new assistant coach named Michael Porter Sr. who arrived in town from Missouri with his three extremely talented sons, including the number one high school player in the nation for the class of 2017, Michael Porter, Jr., and his brothers, Jontay and Coban. Now players from other schools were starting to get interested. A star player from a rival team, Garfield High School, P.J. Fuller, transferred to join the Nathan Hale Raiders, and so it began.

The season for Nathan Hale was one for the history books, including beating rivals and powerhouses Rainier Beach and Garfield. Very quickly, the Hale basketball players became celebrities. Michael Porter, Jr. had almost a million followers on Instagram (he eventually deleted his account to avoid distractions). Lines formed as early as noon for sold-out high school basketball games that started at 8pm. Some of the big games were broadcasted on local TV. People across the country starting talking about Nathan Hale basketball, especially after they won the Hoophall Classic tournament and defeated elite national programs like Oak Hill. What was happening at Hale was nothing like anything that had ever happened before in the history of its sports program.

At the end of the season, the team was crowned the national champion. Its star player Michael Porter, Jr. was named a McDonalds All-American, invited to the Jordan Brand Classic, was the Gatorade Player of the year, and won the Naismith Boys High School Player of the Year. Brandon Roy was named high school coach of the year.

There also were high hopes for the future. While Michael Porter, Jr. was graduating (he had committed to the University of Washington where his Dad was coaching), his brother Jontay was still a junior at Hale and extremely talented. The youngest, Coban was a freshman at Hale and had lots of potential. PJ Fuller was only a sophomore, and Marjon Beauchamp, a five-star freshman, was just getting started.

And then, just like that, it was over. It started when the University of Washington fired its long-time head coach Lorenzo Romar. His assistant coach, Michael Porter, Sr., decided to head back to his old school, Mizzou, and all of his sons followed him. Next, Brandon Roy left Hale for a coaching job at his alma mater Garfield High School.

Suddenly, the talent was gone. Next season for Hale basketball will probably be back to normal. Tickets will be easy to get. There won’t be any national attention. Other Nathan Hale high school students will have a chance to make the varsity team. The national championship season will start to fade away into the distant past.

This experience raises a number of issues and questions, and leaves me with mixed feelings. First, to be honest, I loved it. It was thrilling to have my high school team be in the national spotlight and go undefeated. It was awesome to go to games and watch the players become local and even national celebrities.

At the same time, there were some aspects of the past season that I found troubling. I felt bad for the Hale basketball players who had played varsity the year before and found themselves on JV, and the younger players who either didn’t make the team or barely made one of the JV teams when previously they would have played at a higher level. A friend of mine is a very talented freshman player who would have had a decent chance to make the varsity team the year before but who ended up on the third team (the all-freshman team) called “JVC.” It’s just high school—should you have to be a national caliber player to make the team?

Second, while it was very exciting, it also felt a bit distant. The Porter brothers were homeschooled, and they only took one class a day at Hale, so they weren’t around the school that much when they weren’t practicing or playing games.

Finally, there’s a part of me that does not want this to become the future of high school sports. I don’t want kids moving from outside the district to other schools just because of a coach or the potential to be on a winning sports team. It feels more like what’s happening in college, where players find the best place for a year to show their skills and then enter the NBA draft—known as being a “one and done”.

It makes you feel like your school and your support was just being used to get these athletes to the next level. It sure was fun, but I think I’d be just fine rooting for an average team consisting of classmates who are my friends and who share my same hopes and dreams.