In the 2025 NBA Draft, one team had more cause to celebrate than Cooper Flagg’s college basketball team. It was Cooper Flagg’s prep basketball team.
Duke made history with three players picked in the top 10 — with Flagg at first overall — but the bigger accomplishment arguably belonged to Montverde Academy, the prep school that featured the No. 1, 13, 23 and 29 picks on the same team last year.
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You will not be shocked to hear that team went 33-0 and won the national championship. They won their games by an average margin of 29.8 points.
Name |
Position |
Rivals recruit rank |
College |
NBA Draft pick |
NBA team |
Cooper Flagg |
F |
1 |
Duke |
1 |
Mavericks |
Asa Newell |
F |
13 |
Georgia |
23 |
Hawks |
Liam McNeeley |
F |
17 |
UConn |
29 |
Hornets |
Derik Queen |
C |
18 |
Maryland |
13 |
Pelicans |
Robert Wright III |
G |
25 |
Baylor |
N/A |
TBD |
Curtis Givens III |
G |
87 |
LSU |
N/A |
TBD |
Flagg was the crown jewel of the class, the top overall recruit of the class according to Rivals and the No. 1 pick for the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday. Right behind him were No. 13 recruit Asa Newell, No. 17 recruit Liam McNeeley and No. 18 recruit Derik Queen, all of them five stars. There were also four-star recruits Robert Wright III and Curtis Givens III, still playing at Baylor and LSU respectively.
Six top 100 recruits on the same team, who all went their separate ways after one of the best high school seasons ever.
Flagg reclassified and earned National Player of the Year honors at Duke when he should have been a high school senior. Queen went to Maryland, won Big Ten Freshman of the Year and went 13th to the New Orleans Pelicans. Newell made the SEC All-Freshman team at Georgia and went 23rd to his hometown Atlanta Hawks. McNeeley was the Big East Freshman of the Year at UConn and went 29th to the Charlotte Hornets.
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McNeeley, who had to wait the longest in the green room to hear his name called, teared up when asked about his former teammates’ collective achievements:
“Those are my brothers. I’m so proud of them. It’s a dream come true.”
As Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Eisenberg documented, the Montverde 6 pulled it off with a complete lack of selfishness. With six players bound for high major programs, they adopted a system where they would rotate starters and have a different player come off the bench, including Flagg:
“Everybody sacrificed,” Newell said. “We all knew that going in, but we all wanted to be part of something great.”
Their collective dominance begged the question of what could have happened had they all decided to go to the same program. Queen estimated to Eisenberg they could have made the top 25. Wright believed they could have made it to the Sweet 16.
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And one prep coach who faced them twice last season had a higher estimation: “The modern-day Fab Five.”
Now we can only wonder if any of them join forces during their NBA careers. All four of Wednesday’s picks have a path to quick playing time, with Flagg the overwhelming favorite for NBA Rookie of the Year.