If the Ball Never Goes Above $H$ -- In this case, **_all_** of the ball's initial kinetic energy (due to vertical motion) is converted into potential energy by the time it rises by distance $h$. Then, we have: \begin{equation} \begin{split} \Delta K &= \Delta P \\ \frac{1}{2}m(v\sin{\theta})^2 &= mgh \\ v\sin{\theta} &= \sqrt{2gh} \end{split} \end{equation} Where $\Delta K$ is the kinetic energy lost to the potential energy gained over distance $h$ and $\Delta P$ is the potential energy gained over the distance $h$. If the Ball Goes Above $H$ -- The ball must go higher than $H$ to enter the basket. In this case, **_not all_** of the ball's initial kinetic energy (due to vertical motion) is converted to potential energy by the time the ball has traveled over distance $h$. Thus $\frac{1}{2}m(v\sin{\theta})^2$ accounts for additional kinetic energy besides that which equals $mgh$. So, we let \begin{equation} \begin{split} K &= K_h + K_a &= \frac{1}{2}m(v\sin{\theta})^2 \\ P &= P_h + P_a &= (mvh) + P_a \\ K_h &= P_h \\ K_a &= P_a \end{split} \end{equation} where: * $K$ is the total kinetic energy the ball loses while going up, due to changes in the vertical component of its velocity. * $P$ is the total potential energy the ball gains while going up. * Subscript $_h$ refers to quantities corresponding to motion from height $L$ to height $H$, over distance $h$. * Subscript $_a$ refers to quantities corresponding to motion at heights above $H$. It follows that: \begin{equation} \begin{split} K &= P \\ K - K_a &= P - P_a \\ K - K_a &= P_h \\ \frac{1}{2}m(v\sin{\theta})^2 - K_a &= mgh \\ (v\sin{\theta})^2 &= 2gh + \frac{2}{m}K_a\\ v\sin{\theta} &= \sqrt{2gh + \frac{2}{m}K_a} \end{split} \end{equation} Since $K_a$ is non-zero in this case, we have: \begin{equation} \begin{split} v\sin{\theta} &> \sqrt{2gh} \end{split} \end{equation}