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Basketball: Montverde Academy boys, girls teams to play at GEICO High School Nationals

frank jolley, daily commercial
·3 min read

MONTVERDE – Like so many basketball teams around the country, Montverde Academy is going dancing.

The Eagles boys and girls teams learned Tuesday they had been invited to play in the annual GEICO High School Nationals later this month at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers.

Montverde’s boys team — the defending champions — will be making its 10th appearance in the tournament, while the girls will be making its first. The tournament will run March 31 through April 2. All games will be televised on the various ESPN platforms – ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPN+.

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Montverde boys playing for sixth GEICO title

Montverde’s boys team, which sports a 21-4 record, will be vying for its sixth GEICO championship and mythical national title. Previously, the Eagles won in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018 as well as last year and were runners-up in 2010, 2012 and 2017.

The Eagles’ opening round game will be at 2 p.m. March 31 against AZ Compass Prep, from Chandler, Arizona. That game will be televised on ESPNU.

Montverde’s girls team — 18-3 on the season — will make its debut at 10:30 a.m. on April 1 against Daytona Beach DME Academy. It will be shown on ESPNU.

Montverde Academy's Dariq Whitehead (0) takes against La Lumiere during a game in the 2021 Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament in Montverde. Whitehead, now a senior, leads the Eagles into the GEICO High School Nationals later this month in Fort Myers.
Montverde Academy's Dariq Whitehead (0) takes against La Lumiere during a game in the 2021 Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament in Montverde. Whitehead, now a senior, leads the Eagles into the GEICO High School Nationals later this month in Fort Myers.

In all, 13 teams make up the boys and girls fields, and all are ranked in ESPN’s SC Next Top 25.

Among the boys teams are four of the top five in the SC Next Top 25 — No. 1 Sunrise Christian Academy (Kansas), No. 3 IMG Academy (Florida), No. 4 Montverde Academy, and No. 5 Link Academy (Missouri). Other teams in the boys field include No. 6 La Lumiere (Indiana), No. 7 Oak Hill (Virginia), No. 9 AZ Compass Prep, and No. 19 Prolific Prep (California).

The girls field consists of: No. 9 New Hope Academy (Maryland), No. 10 DME Academy, No. 11 Montverde Academy, No. 22 IMG Academy and No. 24 Bishop McNamara High School (Maryland).

“This year’s field at the GEICO Nationals will be the strongest ever to compete for a title,” said Paul Biancardi, ESPN basketball analyst and national recruiting director. “When you look at the selection of programs from top to bottom, there is little separation. All the teams are national ranked and have challenged themselves throughout the season. From a talent standpoint, the tournament has elite star power, with dozens of ranked prospects, including 15 McDonald’s All-Americans.

“It’s the most ever to participate for a GEICO championship.”

Montverde Academy senior Ben Simmons (20) takes a shot during the championship game against Oak Hill Academy 2015 Dick's Sporting Goods High School Nationals at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Montverde Academy senior Ben Simmons (20) takes a shot during the championship game against Oak Hill Academy 2015 Dick's Sporting Goods High School Nationals at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Naismith Player of the Year Dariq Whitehead latest Eagles star

Multiple NBA standouts have played for legendary coach Kevin Boyle at Montverde Academy, including Joel Embiid, an MVP candidate with the Philadelphia 76ers, along with R.J. Barrett (New York Knicks), and Ben Simmons (Brooklyn Nets). Another who played for Boyle and moved on to the next levels include Cade Cunningham, who starred at Oklahoma State before being selected by Detroit in last year's NBA Draft.

This year's team is led by Naismith National High School Player of the Year Dariq Whitehead.

The strength of the field shows with the combined won-loss records of the participants. The eight boys teams have combined for a 202-31 record, while the combined record for the five girls teams is 101-17.

Eight of the previous 13 boys championships have been claimed by teams in this year’s field, including Montverde Academy (2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2021), Oak Hill Academy (2016), La Lumiere (2017) and IMG Academy (2018). The only previous champion in this year’s girls field is New Hope Academy, which won the 2019 title.

The tournament began in 2009 in Bethesda, Md. as the National High School Invitational — a platform to allow nationally ranked high school teams to compete against each other in a season-ending tournament. It moved to New York City in 2014 and remained there until last year, when it was moved to Fort Myers.

This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Montverde boys and girls basketball teams to play in GEICO Nationals