This ITP Show idea was sparked from a piece co-host Ronnie Flores wrote earlier in the week outlining four teams that are in the mix for that prestigious, yet unclaimed crown. Click the link below to listen to the full podcast and continue reading for a brief overview on why these are the four high school teams up for the debate.

There are two recent teams in consideration: 2015-16 Chino Hills, which went 35-0 while playing a loaded national schedule. What stands out most about that Huskies' team is that they accomplished those feats as a public school playing with mainly neighborhood players. Chino Hills were paced that season by current New Orleans Pelicans point guard Lonzo Ball and his brothers, LaMelo and LiAngelo. Seven Chino Hills players went on to play Division 1 college basketball and four are primed to play in the NBA.

The 2019-20 Montverde Academy is the most recent team with a legitimate claim to be the best high school team ever. The Eagles went 25-0, winning their games by a staggering average margin of 38.9 points. MVA had its season cut short due to the Coronavirus pandemic and weren't able to challenge for its fifth GEICO title. It's still to be determined how many Montverde players will make it to the NBA, but coach Kevin Boyle estimates that 12 players from this year's roster will earn Division 1 scholarships.

The other two teams come from earlier in high school hoops history, starting with the famed 82-83 Dunbar team out of Baltimore. The Poets went 31-0 that season and sent 11 of their 13 rostered players to the Division 1 level. NBA players from that squad consisted of Reggie Lewis, Reggie Williams and Tyrone "Mugsy" Bogues. Dunbar played a national schedule in a time period where it was rare for programs to make multiple out-of-state trips to play the upper-echelon competition.

Finally, the 1992-93 Oak Hill Academy team rounds' out the debate. Long-time NBA players Jerry Stackhouse and Jeff McInnis highlighted that 36-0 team which beat six college programs, in addition to 30 high school teams, in its 36-0 campaign. Nine players off of that Warriors team went on to play Division 1 hoops with four making it to the NBA.

The post In The Paint: Debating the greatest high school basketball team ever appeared first on www.ebooksnet.com.

23 years ago today, the NBA lost a future great when 27-year-old Boston Celtic Reggie Lewis collapsed and died on a basketball court during an off-season practice. People tend to overrate the potential of players and loosely throw around the terms "future great" and "hall-of-fame potential" but I don't think that's the case at all with Reggie.

Via ESPN

By the time he died, he was one of six players who, from 1988-93, posted at least 7,500 points, 1,500 rebounds, 1,000 assists, and 500 steals. The other five -- Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, and Chris Mullin -- are all Hall of Famers

Now think about the fact that he spent the first couple years of his career playing with the BIG?3 of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. During his sophomore season, Reggie was still able to average 18.5 points a game while the BIG 3 were averaging 19+ each.

Reggie finally broke the 20-point mark during his 5th season and it was his 5th season where he made the All-Star team and had the memorable four blocks on Michael Jordan (MJ did finish with 35 but on 12-36 shooting) game. It's also when he made a name for himself in the playoffs, by blowing up for 36 points and 7 assists and 42 points and 5 steals against the Cavs and without the assistance of Larry Bird.

"He was on his way," said Bird. "He was a gamer. He just came to play. That was it."

That was it. Play is all I wanted to see from Reggie and in 1993, just a month after hearing about Drazen Petrovic's death, there was Reggie Lewis on ESPN's Sportscenter for the last reason I wanted to see him playing on my TV.

REGGIE VS MJ

HIS LAST NBA GAME

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