Free Republic

<p>WINCHENDON, Mass. -- When Phillips Exeter Academy faces the top basketball teams in the New England Prep School Athletic Conference, coach Malcolm Wesselink jokes that his biggest problem is getting his players not to ask star opponents for autographs.</p> <p>Hoop stars among the preppies? Don't snicker. The NEPSAC league includes the likes of Martin Iti, a 6-foot-10 junior at the Winchendon School here who has already been scouted by the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs. Giedrius Rinkevicius, a 7-foot-2 center, came to Maine to attend Bridgton Academy from basketball-mad Lithuania -- and next year will have a basketball scholarship at the University of Missouri, one of the best college teams in the country.</p>