High school basketball: Sunrise Christian Academy, IMG Academy headline 2022 GEICO Nationals field

Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, Fla. to host event March 31-April 2.

Thumbnail image of this articles writer: Jordan Divens

By Jordan Divens

Mar 15, 2022, 10:00am

5-star Duke signee Dariq Whitehead is authoring an impressive senior season at Montverde Academy 77,207 views 3:07

The matchups are set for GEICO Nationals, which is scheduled for March 31-April 2 at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, Fla. The event will crown the national champion in MaxPreps National Top 20 rankings with each of the top seven teams participating in the field.

The 14th annual event sees one first-time participant as Link Academy (Branson, Mo.) joins returning national powerhouses Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.), IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.), Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.), AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.), La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.) and Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.) in the eight team field.

The three-day tournament is live streaming on ESPN family of networks (full schedule below) and features six of seven MaxPreps National Player of the Year finalists — Keyonte George and Jarace Walker of IMG Academy, Gradey Dick and Mark Mitchell of Sunrise Christian Academy, Chris Livingston of Oak Hill Academy and Dariq Whitehead of Montverde Academy. Each player has a massive opportunity to solidify their senior resumes at GEICO Nationals in the closest MaxPreps National Player of the Year race in quite some time.

The GEICO Nationals field is more wide open than it has ever been this season, with as many as six teams having a realistic shot at taking home the national championship crown.

Sunrise Christian Academy comes into the event as the top seed, making its third appearance in the event while looking to capture the program's first national title. After winning the inaugural National Interscholastic Basketball Conference, the Buffaloes appear to be the slight favorite in an incredibly challenging field. They face Prolific Prep in the first round.

Defending event champion Montverde Academy makes its 11th appearance and are expected to be at full strength against a challenging first round foe in AZ Compass Prep. Coming into the event as the three seed, the Eagles have the pieces to add to their record-setting five GEICO Nationals titles.

Oak Hill Academy makes its 12th appearance and will have a deeper meaning behind their run at the title as legendary head coach Steve Smith announced he would be calling it a career after the season. In the four versus five matchup, the Warriors face one-loss Link Academy who comes into the event loaded with talent in their first season.

Two seed IMG Academy won its only GEICO Nationals title in 2019 and have a strong opportunity to make another deep run behind a talented starting rotation that features three McDonald's All-Americans. The Ascenders have an opportunity to avenge its loss to La Lumiere in a rematch of a 93-91 double-overtime thriller in February.