No. 1-ranked Montverde Academy deserves 4-5 McDonald’s All-Americans but history suggests it won’t happen
By ADAM ZAGORIA
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Following a weekend of stiff competition at the prestigious Hoophall Classic, Coach Kevin Boyle’s loaded Montverde Academy (FL) team remains undefeated at 19-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation.
According to the MaxPreps.com rankings, No. 1 Montverde beat No. 2 Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.), No. 5 Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro, N.H.) and No. 7 Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) at the Hoophall. Led by A.J. Dybantsa and Tyran Stokes, Prolific Prep gave Montverde its stiffest test yet in a 76-71 loss on Sunday night.
Did Montverde grab the win of the season so far? All time atmosphere at Hoophall as Montverde beats Prolific Prep 76-71 in a CLASSIC @MVABasketball pic.twitter.com/AVmn7Kt0nJ
— League Ready (@LeagueRDY) January 15, 2024
Led by Cooper Flagg — the Duke commit who is the No. 1 player in the Class of 2024 and the favorite to be the top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft – Montverde has 4-5 legitimate candidates for the McDonald’s All-American Game, set for April 2 at the Toyota Center in Houston.
Yet when the McDonald’s announcement is made on Tuesday on ESPN’s NBA Today between 3-4 p.m. ET, history suggests Montverde will have no have than 3 players on the rosters.
One of them will be the 6-foot-9 Flagg, while the others will come from among uncommitted big man Derik Queen, ranked No. 12 by 247Sports.com, No. 13 Asa Newell (Georgia) and No. 15 Liam McNeeley (Indiana). Point guard Rob Wright (Baylor) is ranked No. 31 in the class, but is the No. 2 point guard in the 247Sports Composite.
“It’s probably one of the few times a team has 4-5 players that are talented enough to be considered to play in the McDonald’s Game,” USA Basketball youth coach Don Showalter told ZAGSBLOG.
Bu at least two of these players — and maybe three — are likely to get left out.
According to the official McDonald’s Game selection criteria: “There is a historical maximum of two (2) players chosen from a high school or organization with a rare third (3rd) player exception. The third (3rd) player exception is determined at the sole discretion of the selection committee.”
In 2020, when Boyle had his last undefeated super-team at Montverde (25-0), that group produced a trio of McDonald’s All-Americans in Cade Cunningham, the eventual No. 1 pick in the 2021 Draft, Scottie Barnes, the No. 4 pick, and Day’Ron Sharpe, the No. 29.
In 2019, IMG Academy (FL) also produced a trio of McDonald’s All-Americans in Josh Green, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Armando Bacot. Green and Robinson-Earl are now in the NBA, while Bacot is at North Carolina.
Now in 2024, it might be time for the McDonald’s committee to review their criteria and allow for an exceptional team like Montverde to have more than three players selected.
Flagg is a no-brainer and will be the biggest name in the game.
Queen, Newell and McNeeley are all consensus Top-15 players in their class, and Wright is among the best point guards in the class.
All of these Montverde players deserve to be selected — and it’s time the McDonald’s committee considered making a change.
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