The 24 players were selected from 2,500 nominees by a committee of basketball experts. They were chosen not only for their on-court skills but for their performances off the court as well. Coach Morgan Wootten, who had more than 1,200 wins as head basketball coach at DeMatha Catholic High School, was chairman of the selection committee.
Rosters
When the rosters were announced on January 16, 2018, Duke, Kansas and Kentucky had three selectees, while Oregon, North Carolina, and Vanderbilt each had two. At the announcement of roster selections, only 10 schools were represented and had 6 players uncommitted. On Jan. 20, Zion Williamson committed to Duke, giving them four selections which gave them most of any school. On Jan. 22, Moses Brown committed to UCLA which brought the total number of schools to 11. John Mirabello (Northwest Catholic High School, West Hartford, Conn.) and Brad Lauwers (A.J. Dimond High School, Anchorage, Alaska) coached the East and West teams, respectively.