LAS VEGAS – Many of the nation’s high school and prep school basketballs stars were in alignment over the past weekend during The Border League.
And — as anticipated —the largest constellation shined ever-so-brightly for Florida-based, prep school powerhouse Montverde Academy.
Sunday night the Eagles blasted to a 16-point advantage at intermission then withstood a Boozer-brother led rally and held off Miami’s Columbus High, 83-77, at Bishop Gorman High for the championship of the eight-team, GEICO Top Flight Invitational division.
The division also included four other “traditional high school” programs in Bishop Gorman, Coronado (in near-by Henderson), SoCal powerhouse Harvard-Westlake and Arlington (VA) O’Connell, along with two other prep-school powers in Napa (CA) Prolific Prep and Chandler (AZ) Compass Prep.
A mix of high school and prep school programs also played in eight other Border League divisions, showcasing some of the better teams and players from pretty much everywhere in the country.
But it was the 12 Top Flight contests re-enforced a few opinions I held even before those games began early Friday evening:
*Montverde Academy can put a fivesome on the floor that is superior to what anyone — be it prep school, and the unlimited recruiting “base” many exploit as part of their cache; or high school which, with some exceptions, rely on “neighborhood” products — can equal in the coming season.
In Cooper Flagg (6-foot-9), Robert Wright (6-1), Liam McNeeley (6-8), Derik Queen (6-10) and Asa Newell (6-9), Kevin Boyle can put five guys who, IMO, are among the 15 or so best prospects in the national class of 2024.
And Flagg is not only the top player on the high school or “prep school” scene, regardless of class, there isn’t a college program he couldn’t join immediately — as in, for the coming season — and make significantly better.
I have a difficult time envisioning anything happening on the college, “G-League or “international levels in the coming season that would lead to Flagg not being a near-overwhelming choice as the No. 1 selection in the 2024 NBA draft if he were eligible to be chosen.
*And Columbus should go into this season as the top-ranked team among the “true high school programs”.
Led by Class of 2025 members Cameron (6-9) and Cayden (6-5) Boozer, Columbus smacked Coronado (called “Air Nado” for this event/76-53) and Prolific Prep (83-61) before its Sunday night clash with Montverde.
With the “re-classifications” of Flagg (Aug. 11, from c/o 2025 to ’24) and A.J. Dybansta of Prolific Prep (last Thursday, from c/o ’26 to ’25), Cameron Boozer is either the first or second best junior in the country, and one of the top three players regardless of class.
Boozer (with a game-high 26 points vs. Montverde; and 23.7 ppg, 13.3 rpg and 5.0 apg averages for the weekend) gets my ever-so-slight edge over Dybansta as No. 2 in his class No. 2 overall.
And his brother, IMO, remains a tad underrated (No. 16 via ESPN), nationally.
I lean toward him being closer to Top 10 in the class and the best “point guard-type” in the class (although with not with the certainly of how I “rate” his brother, Dybansta and Flagg, respectively).
And Columbus is far from just the Boozer Bros.
Six-eight Malik Abdulahi (6-8 senior) and Benny Fragela (6-3 junior) are returning starters from the 27-4 finish of last season.
And transfers Jase Richardson (whose impact in three seasons at Bishop Gorman wasn’t what it could have been because of the COVID pandemic and leg injuries) and Randy Smith (who averaged 18.5 for a 25-5 Miami Palmetto squad that handed Columbus one of its losses) were also impressive over the weekend.
The depth will be enhanced with Richardson’s 6-4 sophomore brother, Jaxon, recovers from a leg injury.
So, here’s as concise as possible an overall look at the three-day Border League, based upon only the games I watched from courtside . . .
Five best “prep school” team performances:
*Montverde Academy (no spit, Sherlock!).
*Prolific Prep: Held off Harvard-Westlake — California’s Open Division champion last spring — in the first round, 81-70, before losing to Columbus and then keeping Compass Prep at bay for fifth place, 72-62).
*(Atlanta) Team Overtime Elite: Handled one of California’s two-best high school teams this season (St. John Bosco); overpowered Wasatch Academy (66-52) and then eked out a 66-63 win over Utah public school power American Fork — which suited only six players, in the 16-team Super 16 “showcase” division.
*Mt. Pleasant (UT) Wasatch Academy: Knocked off Cali powerhouse Corona Centennial (75-57) before falling to OT Elite and polishing off Las Vegas Arbor View, 65-46).
*Castaic (CA) SoCal Academy: Edged USC-bound and Liam Campbell-led Meridian Owyhee, 77-74; overwhelmed Arbor View, 74-56; and lost to Utah powerhouse Draper Corner Canyon, 73-63.
Honorable mention: Seattle-based Brothers for Life (BFL), which captured the “Champions’” bracket with wins over Fresno (CA) Clovis North (69-67), Temecula (CA) Rancho Christian (52-50), Chandler (AZ) Basha (59-52) and St. George (UT) Dixie (72-59). Its’ 6-4 sophomore point guard, Katrelle Harmon, scored 19 points and made a lot of nifty plays down the stretch.
Five best “high school” team performances:
*Studio City (CA) Harvard-Westlake: They haven’t been involved in nearly as much “fall action” as a lot of the other high-profile programs in Southern California.
But, led by returning starting starters Trent Perry (who made his commitment to USC public Friday night), Robert Hinton (bound for Harvard in 2024-25) and junior Nikolas Khamenia as well as 6-3 senior Christian Horry (who often played “starters’ minutes” last season), the Wolverines knocked off Coronado (70-53) and O’Connell (78-70) following their opening loss to Prolific Prep.
*Corner Canyon: With 6-7 senior forward Brody Kozlowski and his remarkable jump-shooting accuracy leading the way, the Chargers knocked off Goodyear (AZ) Millennium (71-66), Sherman Oaks (CA) Notre Dame (86-70).
The Chargers may be the best “non-California, western high school team” after a 25-3, state 6A championship 2022-23 season.
*Chatsworth (CA) Sierra Canyon: Minus Arkansas-bound Isaiah Elohim (leg injury), the Trailblazers went 3-zip in Super 16 competition, beating American Fork (78-68); Chandler (AZ) Canyon International Academy (82-52) and Goodyear (AZ) Millennium (73-68). Justin Pippen showed a larger audience what the clued-in in Southern California have known for a while: He’s one of the most improved players in the western class of 2024 and will be the target of a lot of college programs in search of a point guard to sign next month or in the spring.
*Arlington (VA) O’Connell: After getting rocked by a bunch of future McD’s AAs and first-round draft picks (aka, “Montverde”), 86-58, Joe Wootten’s crew knocked off the host Gaels, 77-65, then hung tough most of the way before losing to Harvard-Westlake.
*American Fork (UT): Because of injuries and/or illness, Ryan Cuff brought only eight players to Las Vegas and opened by trailing Sierra Canyon, 20-2, before making things much more competitive the rest of the way. Two players were injured in that game. But six was enough to knock off Mater Dei (78-70) and nearly enough to pull off the biggest upset of the event before falling to OT Elite. Cuff’s son, 6-3 Tiger Cuff, scored 26 points vs. OT Elite and is one of the most under-valued and under-recruited c/o 2024 players in the west.
Honorable mention: Even with Caleb Foster (Duke) and Dusty Stromer (Gonzaga), Sherman Oaks (CA) Notre Dame will still have one of the region’s best backcourts via returnee Mercy Miller (bound for Houston; he missed the first game with a hip ailment that kept him out of fall league games for a month or so) and junior Lino Mark — the team’s backcourt sub during its State D-I title run. Matt Sargeant’s club lost to Dream City Christian (AZ) in its open then fell to Corner Canyon on Saturday and knocking off Meridian (ID) Owyhee Sunday afternoon. Miller averaged 32.5 PPG in the final two games, Mark 17.3 in the team’s three games.
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