The McDonald’s All American Game rosters have been announced and with that tradition comes the tradition of uproar surrounding the players that who were left off the roster, aka “snubbed.” Each of the past two McDonald’s games has had its fair share of controversy due to McDonald’s selection policies that ended up being changed for the better, and this year will be no different.
In 2022, it was the policy that prevented fifth year players from playing in the game which resulted in the absence of now Duke star Kyle Filipowski, the No. 2 overall recruit in the class at the time. It led to fifth year players being allowed as long as they didn’t turn 19 before Sept. 1 of their senior year.
In 2023, it was the policy that prevented Overtime Elite players from getting in the game which resulted in the absence of star Kentucky freshman Rob Dillingham. This year, Overtime Elite players are eligible.
In 2024, the controversy and uproar will surround the policy that prevents any singular high school team from having more than three McDonald’s All Americans selected to the game – in this case that is Montverde Academy who will be represented by Cooper Flagg, Derik Queen and Liam McNeeley.
There are also some long-standing policies that have kept others out of the game that remain fair and that will be addressed later in the article.
Regardless, the game should want the best players to be represented. Period.
The high school landscape isn’t the same as it was 25 years ago. Shoot, it isn’t even the same as it was 25 months ago.
More top players are teaming up at schools like in Montverde Academy, Link Academy, Sunrise Christian, Prolific Prep etc. in order to play in the top high school basketball league in the world — the EYBL Scholastic League (formerly the NIBC) — or even go somewhere like Overtime Elite that has invested immense resources into their program.
This is the first time that the policy limiting the number of players making the game from one high school has been an issue, but with the current landscape of player movement it is likely to be a problem that will arise again. Just like how McDonald’s rightly adjusted after the Filipowski fiasco or after the Overtime outcry, hopefully this will be the year we see the next needed change because it resulted in two deserving players being omitted today and doesn’t mean more should be punished tomorrow.
What we shouldn’t want as an industry moving forward is an elite recruit having to weigh the decision of whether to stay in what potentially worse-off situation developmentally over going somewhere to play with and against the best in high school all for the sake of an All Star game because — let’s be real — there will absolutely be some kids, families, handlers, etcetera, who would choose a worse situation if it meant making the McDonald’s All American Game.
The great irony behind it all is that there is a strong correlation on this roster between players’ teams playing in national events like Hoophall or City of Palms during their senior season and making this game while simultaneously punishing some of those that do with that three-player per team policy while also leaving out those who haven’t been invited to those same national stages.
Enough with the rant. Here are the biggest omissions from this year’s McDonald’s All American Game:
