Cooper Flagg, Derik Queen and Asa Newell were the first three prospects to stroll into the interview room at the NBA draft combine in Chicago, cracking jokes as they prepared to meet the media for the first time as prospective NBA players. While the scene around them may have been a bit different, it was hardly the first time this trio of basketball prodigies had moved as a pack.
The dream of playing in the NBA with your best friend from high school? Multiply that by three, and you have the feeling the 2023–24 Montverde Academy boys basketball team is experiencing. Flagg is the presumptive No. 1 pick. Queen, a center who was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year at Maryland, is projected as a potential top-10 selection. Newell, who led Georgia in scoring and rebounding, and Liam McNeeley, a forward who was the Big East Freshman of the Year at UConn, could go anywhere from the late lottery to the end of the first round. The fifth starter from that superteam, point guard Robert Wright III, is heading to BYU on a reported $3 million deal after having starred at Baylor as a freshman last year.
