Meet Montverde, the predominantly Canadian Florida high school super team

On July 4, 2016, Kevin Durant declared his independence from the Oklahoma City Thunder in letter that announced he was starting his next chapter in Golden State. The current two-time MVP, Steph Curry, would be playing on the same team as the previous (2014) MVP, Kevin Durant. The immediate reaction could be summed up in two words: super team. It was a free agency transaction that almost didn’t seem fair.

That same month, a high school team in Florida confirmed two transfers, Rechon Black, a ESPN top-60 recruit from the class of 2018 and North Carolina commit, and Canadian Andrew Nembhard, the 13th best recruit form the class of 2019. They joined Montverde Academy, a three-time National Champion basketball team.

These are the kinds of recruits and transfers that a winning reputation can draw in. Want to be the best team in the nation? Come play a 50-game, travel-heavy schedule with Montverde. The team has been to four straight Dick’s National Championships since 2013 and won three straight before falling in the final four this past season. (And no qualms there, even Jordan’s Bulls couldn’t get past a three-peat.) Black and Nembhard join two other Canadian guards, Marcus Carr, a senior headed to Pittsburgh, and RJ Barrett, ESPN’s top-ranked sophomore. The academy is also the alma mater of Ben Simmons and D’Angelo Russell. Apparently, it’s a school where national championships and preparing elite guard prospects for the NBA are an annual tradition.

Read More: Prospect Calibration — Free Dragan Bender

This year, three of the best guards out of Canada are teamed up with a Tar Heel commit, and a war chest filled with Division I talent, including a fourth Canadian transfer, senior center Grant Shepard, Georgian transfer (that’s Republic of Georgia), senior forward Sandro Mamukelashvili, and VCU commit, senior forward Sean Mobley. Sandro is yet to make a name for himself, but his 7-foot wingspan can only remain hidden for so long.

So, to recap, through a series of six transfers over the past two years the Eagles have built a super team with three elite Canadian point guards, three 17-year olds that are the same height as Kevin Durant, and UNC’s next best guard. In a way, the best Canadian high school basketball team is also the best Floridian high school basketball team, and perhaps one of the best, if not THE best, team in the country (or, I guess, North America?) This is Montverde Academy.

With nine seconds remaining in the opening quarter, Montverde inbounds the ball, up 18-13 in a surprisingly close fought first quarter. The Evanston Wildkits are hosting the Montverde Academy Eagles on the second night of the Chicago Elite Classic and despite being largely outmatched by the national powerhouse, the Wildkits had a lead (9-8) just minutes before and were for the most part holding on.

Andrew Nembhard, a sophomore point guard for the Eagles, inbounds the ball and sprints down court, driven into a trap with two Evanston guards that should have all but ended the period. But at the last moment, four second left, he picks up his dribble in front of the second defender, side-steps the double team and leaps with his left foot off the 3-point line. Nembhard is 6-foot-3, and yet here he is, lifting his dribble on a fast break off the 3-point line like he is a Giannis-sized Eurostep away from the rim. (Not quite.) Instead of a hurried floater, he drops off a pass to the outside, where a teammate is open behind the arc for a catch and shoot 3 at the buzzer, 21-13. The Eagles would go on to win in a blowout, 82-51.

This is the frustrating reality of a high school super team. A 16- year old featured in a apologetic Canadian National Basketball ad is working on the mechanics of his Giannis step and has a teammate ready for a catch and shoot 3-pointer in perfect form. And this on a broken play in the last seconds of the quarter.

I asked Nembhard about his recruitment experience after the game and hearing him rattle off the list of interest and offers from Division I schools was like hearing the the Midwest Region for the NCAA tournament: “Um… Stanford, Michigan, Virginia, Florida, Villanova… Virginia Tech… Tennessee, Oklahoma… (and) a couple others.” And that is kind of the experience for most players on Montverde. They are an independent high school, consistently one of the top ranked in the nation, and almost any player on their roster is hearing interest or already committed to a Division I school.

Rechon Black, the 6-foot-7 junior guard transferred to Monteverde this past summer after he had already committing to UNC in January of 2016. “It’s been something that I’ve been looking at for a while now, honestly. Me and my family, we’re just trying to improve, to get ready and get to the next top level. Honestly is just happened over time and it happened to be one of the best decisions I’ve made so far.” Black looked at two other high school powerhouses, Huntington Prep and Oak Hill before making his decision.

Much like Golden State’s recruitment of Kevin Durant, the idea behind Montverde goes further than just stacking the odds in their favor behind war chest of talent. The system and buy-in always comes before the wins and it is no different for the Eagles. They run out a set of four guards and one forward, something you can get away with when your roster is filled with 16- and 17-year olds with separate YouTube mixtape accounts. It’s a fast-paced style of play, heavy on 3-pointers and fast breaks. They play a fullcourt, sweltering defense and build off turnovers with some Warriors-esque transition offense. It’s not quite at lob city levels, but the few highlight dunks you can get from teenagers are a marvel unto their own. Like if halfway through Bambi’s first ice skating lesson she pulled a double lutz. It doesn’t look right but there is a certain whimsy to it.

I asked Carr about their guard heavy lineups, “I would say it is pretty unique to us because we are able to play four guards. But at the same time, almost all of our bigs can handle, so it is almost like we have five guards out there. Like Sandro (Mamukelashvili) and Sean (Mobley), when they are out there all five guys can get a rebound and also push the brakes. I’d say that aspect is unique to us.”

He has a point. It’s a 15-man roster where the third-string might start on another team. Where as most teams struggle to find enough players with handles at this level, powerhouses like Montverde have rosters with players that have been playing since age 4-5.

And with this particular four guard lineup, it is almost unfair how deep their chemistry goes. Three of their best guards — Barrett, Nembhard, and Carr — all have played with each other on the same Canadian AAU team (UPlay Canada, part of Nike’s EYBL) since they were kids. Carr pointed out how concentrated Canadian basketball is: “That’s kind of the cool thing about basketball in Canada, is it’s really close and really tight. I’ve known Andrew since I was five or six and I’ve known RJ since I was ten. We played on the national team together, Grant (Shepard) too. So we’ve all known each other and played with each other for quite some time. It was really cool to go to school (together).”

Carr is from Toronto and transferred to the team in 2015 with RJ but was injured before the season. He tore his ACL and missed all but the final two games of the 2015-16 season, the Dick’s Nationals. Tearing your ACL in your junior year, a year when most players actively pursue college recruitment, can be a tough journey, especially just after transferring to a team filled with Division I talent.

“That was real tough for me, mentally getting back. But I just gave myself — my momma always told me this 48 hour rule, you can think about something for 48 hours and then after that you got to get to it — I kind of was down for those two days and then I said you know what, after this surgery I’m going to get to work and try and come back better, faster, stronger… It helped make me how mentally strong I am today but it was tough. I was just working all season and wound up coming back after 6 months and playing the last 2 games of the season.”

This year Carr is one of the senior leaders on this team, despite just two games played. And he looks the part. “ Coming here with a bunch of great players around me is only helping me get better, helping me be more efficient with my game. ‘Cause, everybody has to touch the ball, so you know you got to be more efficient.”

When asked about the style of play I found a consistent answer: “We are a great defensive team.” That and they all mentioned the timeshare, and the possibility of being taken out. The comment didn’t surprise me. The Eagles’ coach, Kevin Boyle, stands on the court as far as his coaches box will allow him in a suit and tie and calls out switches and transitions each play. The intensity he keeps as he shouts to his team, just feet away, usually in a three-point stance himself, is almost comical. He looks exactly like Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids, IT Crowd) except, like he could also back down Timofey Mozgov in the post. I found myself staring at him during the Eagles’ defensive possessions, as his facial expressions and exclamations told me more than I could scout out.

And the players are completely bought into his system. “He’s trying to get us going and get the motor up and if he sees us slacking a few times he’ll need us to pick it up.” As Black explains, “If coach wants me to do some dirty work, I’ll do some dirty work, but he definitely wants me to play some defensie obviously with the way he coaches. But playing hard is not an option. You have to play hard, especially with him. Or if not, you just won’t get to play much so.”

I hesitate with the term “powerhouse” when talking about 16- and 17-year old high school students, but in the end that is the impression that Montverde Academy leaves. They take the game as seriously (and work as hard) as the Division I (and NBA) recruitment process asks. Over the holiday break they just won the City of Palms Classic and have a winter schedule filled with national showcases: National Hoopfest in Tennessee, Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions, the Spalding Hoophall Classic in California. In the month of January they’ll play just four home games, three are their own personal invitation.

And sure, it is slightly wild to see Warriors-esque super team building at the high school level, but Montverde isn’t alone in this process, they just happen to be the school that convinced four Canadian high schoolers to come travel the US and possibly win a national championship this year. Avoid a Canadian winter on a dominant national tour,with some occasional free time in the middle of Florida? I can see the appeal.

Note: I polled the three players (Carr, Nembhard, and Black) that I spoke with for some warm-ups mixes and their favorite 2K teams and was surprised that despite the Canadian influence only one mentioned Drake and one played with Toronto. Don’t know if loving J Cole, Lil Uzi, and playing with Russell Westbrook in 2K qualified for a Maple Syrup single A rating, but I think Carr’s comment all but made up for it: “Toronto is my home so I always end up playing with the Raptors, people don’t think I can win so I like to slap them up with some buckets from DeRozan.”