The landscape of New England basketball might soon be making room for a significant new addition.
Masters Academy International, or MAI, is attempting to bring a sports-centric academy to Massachusetts. In a story from the Boston Globe, the school revealed its plans to break ground on an 82-acre campus in Stow and open in fall 2026. MAI is clear with its goals: to create a multi-sport powerhouse in the vein of Florida's IMG Academy, with an athletic focus that supercedes any other school in New England.
“We’re trying to create the IMG Academy of the North,” Peter Masters, the founder of MAI, told the Globe. “New England has the best private school market in the world and so many students that are heading to private schools are just looking for better athletics than their public schools can offer, but all the schools are still doing the same training that they’ve been doing for the last 80 years — three sports, three-month seasons, shorter schedules, history teachers and admissions directors as coaches and they don’t have full-time professional people."
There's still lot to unpack and learn about as MAI establishes itself. But the school's presence could have a major ripple effect on the region's basketball hierarchy. Here are our immediate reactions to the news.
1. First impressions for basketball when you hear that Masters Academy International wants to create the “IMG Academy of the North’ in Massachusetts?
Fuller: This is probably long overdue in New England. These types of sports-centric academies now define elite basketball across the country. IMG itself is the obvious example, but Prolific Prep (Fla.), Hillcrest Prep (Ariz.) and Utah Prep are just a few others that have become boys basketball factories of sorts. Fewer of these programs exist on the girls side outside of IMG, which makes MAI more of an unknown in my space. But when speaking to the Globe, MAI is pretty blunt about its plans to one-up NEPSAC schools. I am fascinated.
Hewitt: This will be a game-changer for New England basketball. The region is already home to some of the best basketball prep schools in the country, and MAI will add a never-before-seen option for them. MAI is hopeful it can retain New England’s top talents, like Cooper Flagg and AJ Dybantsa, who have left the region for schools in other parts of the country that are offering what they are now. Cary Herer, the head coach at CATS Academy in Braintree, Mass., said the same thing to me earlier this year upon his program’s move to the Nike EYBL Scholastic, considered the top high school league in the country. There’s definitely merit to that. Both of those moves should be enough for recruits to stay home. With MAI, New England essentially has every corner covered; there really isn’t an option outside of the region that doesn’t exist here, with the exception of Overtime Elite, which is a professional league that offers an alternative method to reaching the next level. I also think MAI’s launch should help bring more eyes and attention to New England from college coaches – and that should be a net benefit for the region as a whole.
I’m curious what league or circuit MAI will join upon its projected opening in 2026. The Nike EYBL Scholastic is the most prominent national circuit, but there’s a process to be accepted into it. Could they join the Grind Session, which Utah Prep –where Dybantsa played last season – plays in with a national schedule? It’s something to monitor.
2. What level of athletes do you foresee attending MAI? And do you expect many kids would leave prep/NEPSAC schools for it?
Fuller: If MAI is able to successfully brand itself as IMG-like, it will attract the best prospects in New England and the Northeast. Parents who can afford to pay college-level tuition to put their children on an elite college trajectory are clearly willing to do it. As girls basketball (for better or worse) trends increasingly similar to the boys side, sports-focused academies will be normalized and popularized. There's a world where the top 5-8 New England prospects at any time play on the same team. That being said, it's one school with a few teams at most, so NEPSAC should have plenty of depth (though I wonder if MAI's success would prompt families to look at other such academies around the country).
That's a massive if, though. Unlike in other parts of the country, MAI has to prove to families that it can provide better athletic development (with sufficient academics) than established prep schools. People might be hesitant to deviate from what has worked here. For as many successful boys programs as there are now, quite a lot have tried and failed. MAI seems to have experience and funding on its side, though.
Hewitt: MAI will undoubtedly be a destination for the top basketball recruits not only in the country, but the rest of the world. I do expect there would be kids leaving NEPSAC schools to pursue this opportunity. It will be no different than a kid transferring to a higher class in NEPSAC or leaving NEPSAC to go to Brewster or Putnam Science, which are national powerhouses; the best basketball recruits will almost always – depending on their skills, needs and aspirations – be chasing the best opportunities for exposure, development and competition that will help position and prepare them for the next level. Brewster left NEPSAC to join the Nike EYBL Scholastic three years ago, and they’ve been successful in luring the top local, national and international prospects. Sebastian Wilkins, for example, left Lawrence Academy for Brewster in his path to Duke. I expect the same type of domino effect with MAI.
3. Let’s say you are a NEPSAC head coach or administrator: What changes do you think you need to make to your league’s rules/policies to compete with MAI?
Fuller: It depends how much NEPSAC believes this threatens the actual schools. They may be OK with losing the top tier of talent so they don't need to make fundamental changes.
If they are threatened, though, they'll be challenged to adapt. MAI pretty directly called out NEPSAC for the three-sport requirements many schools place on student-athletes, as well as the vast majority of coaches who also serve in admissions or teaching roles. Would prep schools be willing to ditch the three-sport guidelines and any out-of-season coaching restrictions? Would they have the budget to hire full-time coaches and trainers? Those are the discussions that could take place if MAI takes off.
Hewitt: For most schools in New England, competing with MAI is unrealistic. Any effort to do so would likely have to start with increasing financial aid and hiring coaches on a full-time basis; most work several jobs at their schools. But that still probably wouldn’t be enough. Not every school has the same mission as MAI – there would need to be a significantly higher commitment to sports than what exists now – and even if they did, most schools lack the funding, resources and infrastructure to get on an even playing field with them.
