Montverde connection binds Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard, Georgia’s Asa Newell

WICHITA, Kan. – When building a list of the best high school basketball teams in recent memory, it’d be easy to make a case for two teams from Florida-based Montverde Academy.

The prep powerhouse, known for manufacturing high-level Division I and NBA talent, has had a run as good as any school in the country under longtime coach Kevin Boyle.

Montverde’s best teams during that stretch are widely considered to be the 2019-20 team that went 25-0, earning a No. 1 spot in MaxPreps’ national rankings, and the 2023-24 team that capped a 34-0 season with a Chipotle Nationals championship .

Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard played for the first of those teams and Georgia’s Asa Newell was on the second, adding another unique storyline to Thursday’s NCAA Tournament opener between the WCC Bulldogs and SEC Bulldogs at INTRUST Bank Arena .

Nembhard played a smaller role on Montverde’s star-studded 2019-20 team, headlined by No. 1 overall draft pick Cade Cunningham (Detroit Pistons). The team featured four other first-round picks – Scottie Barnes (Toronto Raptors), Day’Ron Sharpe (Phoenix Suns), Moses Moody (Golden State Warriors) and Dariq Whithead (Brooklyn Nets) – and second-round pick Caleb Houstan (Orlando Magic).

Newell’s team last season included Duke star Cooper Flagg, the projected No. 1 pick of the 2025 NBA draft, and UConn’s Liam McNeeley, Maryland’s Deriq Queen and Baylor’s Robert Wright III. All five freshmen are projected first-round draft picks, with most appearing in the lottery of recent mock drafts.

Gonzaga’s had encounters with two of the five and will get a third on Thursday. Wright scored 12 points in Baylor’s 101-63 loss to Gonzaga in the season opener and McNeeley scored 26 for Connecticut in a 77-71 win over the Zags at Madison Square Garden.

As for how things would play out if Nembhard’s 2019-20 Montverde team matched up against Newell’s 2023-24 squad? It’s an impossible, possibly unfair “what-if,” but both players were willing to take a crack at the question during media sessions on Wednesday.

“I feel like that’s going to be a really close game and we won’t know until we play each other,” Newell said. “That will never happen.”

Newell’s team never lost, but Nembhard’s was more dominant, going undefeated while outscoring opponents 2,173-1,200. The 2019-20 team never had a chance to play for a national championship, with the GEICO Nationals tournament canceled due to to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We had no close games, they had a lot of close games,” Nembhard said. “I think we’d work those dudes, but we’ll let him think what he wants. We can ask KB (Kevin Boye) and KBJ (assistant Kevin Boyle Jr.) and they’ll tell what they think. They’ve had a great freshman class, though, I’ll give them that.”

Nembhard said he followed Montverde through the unbeaten 2023-24 season and Newell acknowledged he watched the 2019-20 team, years before arriving at the Destin, Florida-based school .

“Didn’t watch every game, but knew the guys on the team, knew they were good guys and knew KB had a good squad over there,” Nembhard said. “So always got love for Montverde.”

Newell and all four of his fellow Montverde starters are playing this week in the NCAA Tournament – Flagg with Duke, Queen with Maryland, McNeeley with UConn and Wright with Baylor.

“It’s amazing to see that we all made it to this stage and I just want to see my guys win,” Newell said.

Boyle, who won eight of the past 12 national champions, is stepping down from Montverde after 14 seasons to coach at Ohio-based Spire Academy next season.

“He’s meant a lot,” Nembhard said. “I went there when I was super young. My family trusted him.

“I was like 15 years old when I went away from home and him and everyone over there allowed me to grow as a man, as a player.”