{"id":264612,"date":"2023-03-08T19:41:25","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T03:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bilcomprd.wpengine.com\/?p=264612"},"modified":"2023-05-30T10:58:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T17:58:46","slug":"2023-geico-nationals-field-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ballislife.com\/2023-geico-nationals-field-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 GEICO Nationals Field Announced!"},"content":{"rendered":"
The field is set for 2023 GEICO Nationals, scheduled for March 30- April 1 in Ft. Myers, Fla. Seven of the eight teams are ranked in the FAB 50 National Rankings, including top seed and FAB 50 No. 1 Montverde Academy, the two-time defending event champion. The championship game is set for April 1 at 12 pm ET (ESPN).<\/strong><\/p>\n GEICO Nationals<\/em>, the annual end-of-season tournament that has crowned a champion since the end of the 2008-09 season and its winner crowned FAB 50 national champ<\/a> seven times, has unveiled its 2023 field.<\/p>\n Current FAB 50 No. 1<\/a> Montverde Academy of Florida, two-time defending GEICO Nationals champs and the program that has captured GEICO Nationals a record six times, is the top seed and will face fellow National Intersholastic Basketball Conference<\/em> (NIBC) member and No. 14 Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.), the eighth seed (3\/30, 6 pm ET, ESPNU).<\/p>\n There are two first-time entrants to the event, including No. 2 seed and FAB 50 No. 9 Long Island Lutheran (Glen Head, N.Y.), which came in second in the NIBC standings this year at 10-2, one game in the standings behind Montverde. LuHi will take on No. 7 seed and FAB 50 No. 23 AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.) at 4 pm ET (ESPNU).<\/p>\n Compass Prep tied for third in the NIBC standings at 8-4 with FAB 50 No. 19 IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.), which is the No. 6 seed and will take on No. 3 seed Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.) in the first round at 2pm ET (EPSNU). Prolific Prep comes into the event 31-1 after last year's appearance when it became the first No. 8 seed to knock off a No. 1 seed when it downed Sunrise Christian before falling in the semifinals.<\/p>\n The most intriguing matchup is No. 4 seed and FAB 50 No. 2 Link Academy (Branson, Mo.) taking on No. 5 seed and FAB 50 No. 17 Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.) at 12 pm ET (ESPNU). Paul VI, which captured the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association<\/em> (VISAA) D1 title and was runner-up in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference<\/em> (WCAC) tournament, was at one point No. 1 in the FAB 50 during the regular season after going through WCAC regular season play unbeaten.<\/p>\n The Panthers are making an appearance in GEICO Nationals for the first time ever. The VISAA is not affiliated with the National Federation of State High School Associations<\/em> (NFHS) and is one of the reasons Paul VI wouldn't be eligible for the second annual State Champions Invitational<\/em>, which is set to take place this year April 6-8 in the DMV region for eligible programs that win state championships in NFHS-affiliated state governing bodies.<\/p>\n Link Academy has only one loss this season, a 84-58 loss to top seed Montverde Academy. Perhaps the margin of victory played a role in Link Academy's No. 4 seed. Link Academy does own a win over Sunrise Christian Academy. Last year, Link Academy advanced to the championship game before falling to Montverde Academy.<\/p>\n The event has taken place 13 times expect for in 2019-20 because of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and has had a major impact in who finishes No. 1 in the FAB 50 and the overall final rankings. This year's event will be no different.<\/p>\n The semifinals are set for March 31 at 2:30 and 4:30 pm ET on ESPN2. The championship game is set for April 1 at 12 pm ET on ESPN.<\/p>\n Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of Ballislife.com. He can be reached at\u00a0<\/em>ronnie@ballislife.com<\/em><\/a>. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter:\u00a0<\/em>@RonMFlores<\/a><\/em><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 8-Team Field Set! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":263616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8316,1444,85,6886,9099,38,1975,46250,416,247],"tags":[12961],"featured":[],"class_list":["post-264612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-all-blogs","category-hs-east","category-exclusive-videos","category-fab-50","category-high-school","category-hs-midwest","category-news","category-hs-south","category-hs-west","tag-geico-nationals"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n