No. 1 Montverde Academy headlines GEICO Nationals field

Video: High school basketball national rankings
Seven teams in this week's Xcellent 25 set to participate at GEICO Nationals.

The field has been announced for GEICO Nationals, set for March 29-31 at Christ the King High School in New York City. All games will be broadcast across the ESPN family of networks.

The big surprise in the field was the inclusion of unranked Lone Peak (Highland, Utah), which will face three-time champ and No. 1-ranked Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.).

The winner of the Lone Peak-Montverde contest will face the winner of No. 4 seed Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) against No. 5 La Lumiere (LaPorte, Ind.).

On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 seed Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) will face off against head coach Brandon Roy and No. 7 seed Garfield (Seattle, Wash.). Roy won his only meeting with Steve Smith and the Warriors last year at the Spalding Hoophall Classic while serving on the sideline at Nathan Hale (Seattle).

The winner of that contest will take on the winner of No. 3 seed University (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and No. 6 seed Shadow Mountain (Phoenix, Ariz.).

Wins by Oak Hill Academy and University would set up a rematch of their Hoophall duel earlier this season that Oak Hill won 83-69.

Plenty of deserving teams will be sitting at home. No. 12 Upson-Lee (Thomaston, Ga.), a team riding a 63-game winning streak over the last two seasons, was the highest-ranked team to not receive an invite. No. 13 St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, N.J.) also will not be making a return to New York despite an excellent season. No. 17 Oak Ridge (Orlando, Fla.) and No. 18 Gonzaga Prep (Spokane, Wash.) were two other state champs thought to be in the mix.

Schedule
Thursday, March 29
Noon – Findlay Prep vs. La Lumiere [ESPNU]
2 p.m. – University vs. Shadow Mountain [ESPNU]
4 p.m. – Oak Hill Academy vs. Garfield [ESPNU]
6 p.m. – Montverde Academy vs. Lone Peak [ESPNU]
Friday, March 30
3 p.m. – Semifinal 1 [ESPN2]
5 p.m. – Semifinal 2 [ESPN2]
Saturday, March 31
Noon – Championship Game [ESPN]

Let's go!!! ?????? #GEICONationals

Tickets: https://t.co/n2iJCXF4aq ?? pic.twitter.com/LDK2HfkpxX

— Who's Next (@WhosNextHS) March 13, 2018

Field at a Glance

Montverde Academy
2017-18 Record: 32-0
Xcellent 25 Ranking: 1

Oak Hill Academy
2017-18 Record: 43-1
Xcellent 25 Ranking: 2

University
2017-18 Record: 33-1
Xcellent 25 Ranking: 3

Findlay Prep
2017-18 Record: 31-4
Xcellent 25 Ranking: 7

Shadow Mountain
2017-18 Record: 25-1
Xcellent 25 Ranking: 4

La Lumiere
2017-18 Record: 23-3
Xcellent 25 Ranking: 11

Garfield
2017-18 Record: 28-1
Xcellent 25 Ranking: 14

Lone Peak
2017-18 Record: 23-3
Xcellent 25 Ranking: Unranked