Chipotle Nationals closed out the 2023-24 season and it is now time to publish our last FAB 50 Nationwide Staff Rankings powered by Ballislife.com. Montverde Academy of Florida captured the match title to go wire-to-wire No. 1, with the outcomes of the occasion involving eight groups inflicting some motion throughout the Prime 20.
By Ronnie Flores
The large query heading into 2024 Chipotle Nationals was if any workforce might critically problem season-long FAB 50 No. 1 Montverde Academy of Florida. The Eagles had been dealing with as proficient a crop of groups this system has ever confronted within the end-of-season occasion that has been performed for 16 years. The Eagles had been additionally dealing with seven potential groups, all ranked throughout the prime 14 of the FAB 50 Nationwide Staff Rankings powered by Ballislife.com previous to the beginning of the occasion, that they beat at the very least as soon as earlier within the season.
There may be an previous saying it is arduous to beat an excellent workforce twice, however the battle examined and prime seeded Eagles gained three video games at Brownsburg (Ind.) to seize the occasion title for the seventh time within the final 11 occasions the occasion was held. Montverde Academy’s 79-63 victory over No. 2 seeded and FAB 50 No. 3 Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.) makes the Eagles the official 2023-24 FAB 50 Nationwide Champs.
Many veteran onlookers felt Paul VI was the most effective wager to upset Montverde Academy, however the all-around brilliance of Duke-bound Cooper Flagg and the shot making capacity of LSU-bound Curtis Givens was the distinction within the championship contest. Flagg, the main Mr. Basketball USA candidate, was named tourney MVP after scoring 16 factors, grabbing eight rebounds, and blocking six pictures versus Paul VI. In Montverde Academy’s three victories, Flagg averaged 20.0 ppg and seven.0 rpg and had solely blocked one shot within the first two video games earlier than his massive defensive efficiency within the last.
Montverde Academy led 45-32 at halftime, as each Givens and Flagg hit massive area objectives proper earlier than intermission. Each time Paul VI appeared to make a run, Givens would hit a giant 3-pointer to play the position of rally-killer. Flagg’s block and run out dunk proper earlier than the third interval buzzer which gave his workforce a 60-46 lead summarized the sport and the occasion. It doesn’t matter what any workforce tried to do, Montverde Academy had a solution.
Givens completed with 24 factors, together with 6-of-9 taking pictures from 3-point vary. Additionally making a big effect as a matchup nightmare was Maryland-bound ahead Derik Queen. He used his massive physique, passing capacity and uncanny strikes across the basket to complete with 19 factors, six rebounds and 4 assists. Queen, who averaged 16.3 ppg and 6.7 rpg on the occasion, also needs to be thought of a Mr. Basketball USA candidate.
“In virtually 40 years of teaching this 12 months’s workforce was as shut has any I’ve ever had each on and off the court docket,” Montverde Academy head coach Kevin Boyle informed Ballislife.com. “They gained seven video games versus nationally-ranked prime 5 groups and 14 versus nationally-ranked prime ten groups. They’re within the dialog as the best workforce of all-time and clearly together with Montverde Academy 2020, Dunbar 1983, Oak Hill Academy 1993 and Montverde 2018 one of many 5 finest groups of all- time.”
The large rating resolution popping out of the occasion was one to maneuver up Paul VI one spot to No. 2 because the runner-up or depart Columbus (Miami, Fla.) in that spot after the Explorers fell within the semifinals to Montverde Academy, 84-70. Though Paul VI superior one spherical additional at Chipotle Nationals, the Panthers misplaced a head-to-head matchup to Columbus, 70-61, on the Spalding Hoophall Traditional in Massachusetts, so the Explorers stay at No. 2. Though Columbus did fall behind massive early in its sport with MVA simply because it did within the first assembly between the 2, MVA’s victory margins over the Explorers and the Panthers had been in comparable vary {that a} rankings flip to go in opposition to the head-to-head outcome was unwarranted.
Flagg completed with 28 factors within the win over Columbus whereas Queen added 16 factors and 6 rebounds. Cameron Boozer, final season’s Mr. Basketball USA as a sophomore, led Columbus with 29 factors (3-of-11 3-point) and 7 rebounds.
Paul VI knocked off then No. 11 Hyperlink Academy (Branson, Mo.) in its semifinal, 58-44, as Duke-bound Darren Harris led the way in which with 20 factors. Harris additionally scored a team-high 16 factors within the championship last loss to Montverde Academy and had 36 factors (5-of-9 3-point) within the 101-89 first spherical win over then No. 14 IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.). Hyperlink Academy is ready to transfer up 5 spots after defeating then No. 6 Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.), 80-76 in double time beyond regulation, within the first spherical. Hyperlink Academy and Prolific Prep cut up video games this season, however with Hyperlink Academy avenging the common season loss, it finishes ranked one spot forward of The Crew from Napa, Calif.
In its first spherical victory, Montverde Academy took down then No. 12 AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.), 64-49, as Flagg had 16 factors whereas Queen completed with 14 factors and eight rebounds.
That is Montverde Academy’s third FAB 50 nationwide title workforce to complete unbeaten, becoming a member of the already legendary 2020 workforce that did not get the chance to compete in Chipotle Nationals due to COVID-19 and the 2018 workforce. The 2018 workforce additionally went wire-to-wire as FAB 50 No. 1 workforce simply as this 12 months’s shut knit group did.
For Montverde Academy, this system has now completed No. 1 within the FAB 50 seven occasions, which ties Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) for essentially the most all-time FAB 50 nationwide titles. We’ll have extra element on that achievement and this 12 months’s MVA workforce in our annual “Salute to All-Time FAB 50 No. 1 Groups”.
There was additionally some motion within the last rankings after we reviewed the complete season log for every workforce that we’ll clarify in our Last, Expanded FAB 50 Rankings with element on every workforce.
RELATED: Preseason 2023-24 Mr. Basketball USA Tracker | “In The Paint” Podcast (Spotify) | “In The Paint” Podcast (YouTube) | Chipotle Nationals Document Guide
Last FAB 50 Nationwide Staff RankingsPowered by Ballislife.com
(sixteenth and last ballot of 2023-24 common season; By means of video games performed on Saturday, April 6; *Signifies forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included; **Signifies forfeits and defaults not included)
No. Prev. Excessive Faculty (Metropolis)Document
11Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.)33-0
22Columbus (Miami, Fla.)28-5
33Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.)35-3
45Plano East (Plano, Texas) 40-0
54Long Island Lutheran (Glen Head, N.Y.)21-5
611Link Academy (Branson, Mo.)26-7
76Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.)31-6
87Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.)33-3
99Fishers (Fishers, Ind.)29-1
109Wisconsin Lutheran (Milwaukee, Wis.)30-0
1113Stony Level (Spherical Rock, Texas)38-2
128Central Cabarrus (Harmony, N.C.)33-0
1320Roosevelt (Eastvale, Calif.)31-4
1415St. Rose (Belmar, N.J.)29-2
1526Oak Ridge (Orlando, Fla.)27-4
1612AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.)27-6
1714IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.)18-9
1816Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, N.Y.)26-4
1917Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.)29-3
2018St. Mary Prep (Orchard Lake, Mich.)27-1
2119Ridge View (Columbia, S.C.) 27-2
2221Perry (Gilbert, Ariz.)24-6
2322Grayson (Loganville, Ga.)30-2
2423McEachern (Powder Springs, Ga.)26-6
2524North Mecklenburg (Huntersville, N.C.)30-3
2626Myers Park (Charlotte, N.C.)27-4
2727John Marshall (Richmond, Va.)25-3
2828Bullis (Potomac, Md.)27-3
2929Sidwell Pals (Washington, D.C.) 27-4
3030Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.)28-6
3131St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.)28-7
3232Salesian (Richmond, Calif.)31-2
3333La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.)23-5
3434Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro, N.H.)27-7
3535Patrick Faculty (Elizabeth, N.J.)28-4
3636Camden (Camden, N.J.)30-2
3737Kell (Marietta, Ga.)28-3
3838Homewood Flossmor (Flossmor, In poor health.)33-4
3939Reidsville (Reidsville, N.C.)29-0
4040Roman Catholic (Philadelphia, Pa.)26-3
4141St. Ignatius (Cleveland, Ohio)26-3
4242Millennium (Goodyear, Ariz.)25-5
4343Winter Haven (Winter Haven, Fla.)27-2
4444Jackson-Reed (Washington, D.C.)33-3
4545Bellevue West (Bellevue, Neb.) 27-1
4646Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)29-6
4747Lyon County (Eddyville, Ky.)36-3
4848Beaumont United (Beaumont, Texas)34-4
4949Northwest (Shawnee Mission, Kan.)25-0
5050Great Crossing (Georgetown, Ky.)36-2
Dropped Out: None.
Editor’s Word: No bubble golf equipment are included within the last FAB 50, as the ultimate 2023-24 Prime 20 Regional Rankings embrace all of the groups thought of for the bubble.
Word: The FAB 50 powered by Ballislife.com is a continuation of the Nationwide Sports activities Information Service rankings that started in 1952. These had been the primary nationwide highschool rankings and the late Artwork Johlfs of Minnesota compiled them. They had been compiled for a few years by the late Barry Sollenberger of Phoenix, who merged them into the FAB 50 24 years in the past.
Ronnie Flores is the nationwide Grassroots editor of Ballislife.com. He might be reached at [email protected]. Remember to observe him on Twitter: @RonMFlores