McDonald's All American Game spotlight: Nation's top player Ben Simmons says goodbye

Video: Ben Simmons high school highlights
See the Montverde Academy senior in action.

In the old days, the McDonald's All-American Game would finish it all off.

The elite player would have fun running with the boys and sign off on an illustrious high school basketball career.

No more.

For Ben Simmons, the consensus No. 1 player from the Class of 2015, this is the first of a possible five-game sendoff.

His second-ranked Montverde Academy (Fla.) squad (28-1) will play in the Dick's Sporting Goods High School Nationals Thursday through Saturday in New York with hopes of bringing home a mythical national championship. They'll need to win two games to get to the finals, with a possible showdown with No. 1 Oak Hill Academy looming.

2015 McDonald's All-American Game boys roster

"As a team, we've played at about a seven or eight all season," he said. "Hopefully over the next three games we can put it all together. I'm confident we can."

His grand finale is the Jordan Brand Classic April 17 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn N.Y.

But most of the nation's eyeballs will be on Wednesday's preeminent high school All-Star game, the 38th annual McDonald's game that over the years has featured the sport's greatest players over four decades, such as Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant ... to name a few.

The 6-foot-9, 225-pound Simmons, with a massive skill set and unflappable demeanor, could be added to that list someday. In the last two week he has won the Morgan Wootten/McDonald's and Gatorade National Player of the Year awards,

He's averaging 28.0 points, 11.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.6 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. He's a high flier, sees the floor, makes the extra pass and is ambidextrous. He's been compared to a young Tracy McGrady.

The native of Australia, whose dad Dave was born in the Bronx and played professionally 15 seasons Down Under, is a quiet, thoughtful, in-the-moment lad. He doesn't give in to the hype. He's more like Durant or Tim Duncan in that regard. A genuine kid and class act.

2015 McDonald's All-American Game girls roster

He said he was just honored to be invited to the game, and humbled to be picked as the best from a group of his peers.

"This is an exciting time in my life and I'm very happy that the hard work is paying off," he said. "I am fortunate to play on a great team at Montverde and to have skilled coaches who have helped develop my game."

Of playing and practicing for the game, Simmons said: "I'm just excited to be in the game, be in the arena and play with some of my closest friends I know from the summer," he said.

The boys of summer are fellow AAU and USA Basketball standouts. Guys like Malik Newman, Dwayne Bacon and Antonio Blakeney.

Simmons said he's closest to Blakeney, which makes sense. The two will be teammates next year at LSU, and Wednesday night versus the West. The East also will have the nation's No. 2 recruit Jaylen Brown, Bacon, the Powerade Jam Fest slam dunk winner who plays for Oak Hill Academy, and Luke Kennard, who averaged 38 points per game for Franklin (Ohio) and won Monday's 3-point contest.

"I just want to have fun, work on my skill set and see what we can pull off," Simmons said. "Hopefully a victory for the East."