Rivalry buds between powerhouses
Fla. new-kid IMG versus Montverde
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Christmas always comes a week early for high school basketball fans in southwest Florida in the form of the Culligan City of Palms Classic. But the premier tournament in the country featuring the handfuls of elite prospects could have an extra special gift waiting under the tree Monday.
Since the main bracket for the 47th edition of the tournament was unveiled almost three months ago, fans have been dreaming of a championship meeting between the USA TODAY High School Sports preseason No. 1 and No. 2 teams, Montverde Academy and Bradenton IMG Academy.
Two in-state programs stacked from head to toe with talent that monopolizes the top of any recruiting list you can dig up with a few keystrokes on Google. The team of the 2010s decade in Montverde won four of the last seven national championships versus a newer kid on the block that just won its first national crown and is hungry for more.
Will the dream scenario manifest itself at Suncoast Credit Union Arena? Will last year’s semifinal classic at GEICO Nationals followed by a possible early-season rematch in Fort Myers ignite a tailor-made rivalry based on geography and positioning on the national stage?
Neither Montverde coach Kevin Boyle nor IMG coach Sean McAloon wants to be classified as Grinches so close to Christmas. However, their answers weren’t promising.
Boyle made 10 appearances in the City of Palms with Elizabeth (New Jersey) St. Patrick and will make his seventh with Montverde. Admittedly, he said even during runs to tournament championships his squads, even with talent like Kyrie Irving, Ben Simmons, D’Angelo Russell and R.J. Barrett, usually faced stiff tests in the quarterfinals and semifinals, some his teams couldn’t come out on the winning side of.
Seeing the co-No. 1 seeds face off in the final isn’t a given.
“For whatever reason, it doesn’t usually happen,” Boyle said.
Boyle loves the highly competitive aspect of the tournament and gives all of the credit to Classic Basketball Inc. vice president Donnie Wilkie for picking the field. He added Wilkie has an uncanny ability to choose teams that end up outperforming their national ranking.
This year there are more than a few possible roadblocks – seven teams currently ranked in the USA TODAY Super 25 – that could upend an IMG-Montverde final. It starts with Auburn signee Sharife Cooper and defending tournament champion Powder Springs (Georgia) McEachern moves to No. 10 Philadelphia Roman Catholic to No. 15 White Plains (New York) Archbishop Stepinac on to No. 17 Eads (Tennessee) Briarcrest Christian to No. 21 Seattle O’Dea to unranked but highly-decorated Washington, D.C.’s Gonzaga.
In a tournament with no shot clock, any team can get beat on any single night. Any team can get hot. And that’s the beauty of the tournament, which began Wednesday.
Look no further than last year’s tournament for evidence that the top seeds don’t always meet up at the end. Philadelphia Imhotep Charter knocked off Davie University School and Mouth of Wilson (Virginia) Oak Hill en route to the final while Mountain Brook (Alabama) dealt IMG a 72-67 quarterfinal loss.
McAloon wasn’t happy at the time but said the loss was a turning point for the Ascenders.
“I think it checked our guys,” McAloon said. “You can, as a coach, continue to do everything you can to prepare your team the right possible way. But the kids mentally have to be locked in the exact same way. I think they were reading their press clippings. I think they were smelling themselves a little bit. We got checked.”
The loss ignited a 21-game run to a national title, which included a 74-73 win over Montverde where the Ascenders came back from 16 points down.
Boyle said some of his players might still feel the sting from not being able to finish last year in New York City.
“For the kids, it probably stays longer and is more bitter because you haven’t ever experienced being in a national championship and winning,” Boyle said.
After graduating five seniors and losing four-star recruit Noah Farrakhan, who transferred back home to The Patrick School, IMG added Duke signee 7foot Mark Williams from Norfolk (Virginia) Academy and Mississippi commit Matthew Murrell of Memphis Whitehaven as well as 6-10 junior Moussa Diabate from Daytona Beach DME Academy. They’ll pair with Tennessee signee Jaden Springer, who averaged nearly 19 points, four rebounds and four assists a game last season for the Ascenders, and 6-6 sophomore Jarace Walker, who is the No. 6-ranked sophomore by Rivals.
It led to SLAM Magazine dubbing IMG as a super team for the second straight year, much to McAloon’s dismay.
“There are no super teams. Anybody can be beat on any night,” McAloon said. “It’s more of a curse to be labeled that because it just takes off on social media. You’re dealing with 16-, 17-, 18year-old kids. Of course, they’re going to read. And then it becomes about maintaining heads. I think if you’re IMG or if you’re Oak Hill or La Lumiere or DeMatha, you’re going to get everybody’s best shot every night.”
Montverde was busy as well. Oklahoma State signee Cade Cunningham, the second-ranked senior by ESPN, is back alongside Arkansas signee Moses Moody, junior Ryan Nembhard, sophomore Caleb Houston and sophomore Dariq Whitehead. New to the team are Florida State signee Scottie Barnes, who played in the COP the last two years with Davie University School, as well as North Carolina signee Day’Ron Sharpe, who won a state title with Winterville (North Carolina) South Central last season, Michigan signee Zeb Jackson from Toledo (Ohio) Maumee Valley and junior Langston Love from Cibolo (Texas) Steele.
“We have to keep winning because we know there’s a bunch of programs trying to take over,” Boyle said. “So, do we feel more pressure that we have to win this year to sustain that and keep that reputation? It’s not bad pressure. It’s good pressure that keeps us working hard, keeping our eyes on the prize.”
As for whether the summer’s arms race nudges the two programs closer to becoming rivals, McAloon says not yet.
“We’re two hours apart and we don’t play each other home and away,” McAloon said. “Until that happens I can’t say there is. We can’t seem to come to an agreement to play once there one year and once there this year or the next year.”
Boyle sees the two battling for national supremacy for many years to come.
“We’re going to try to make sure we stay intact as the premier team in high school basketball,” Boyle said. “With them beating us last year I think it starts to create a rivalry. Now that they’ve won (a national title), if they can get another one we can get a real rivalry going. There’s no question I think in the next decade Montverde and IMG will often be mentioned in that top two, three, four teams consistently.”
Whether there will be a meeting in this year’s final that helps lay the foundation for that remains to be seen.