High School Hoops Holiday Tournament Primer

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The Holiday Tournament season is quickly approaching as we're two weeks away from all of them getting started. Now that some fields for events have been released, we take a look at some local holiday tournaments to watch in the upcoming weeks. We'll be adding more holiday tournaments to this list as fields come out as High School Lites and the @NBCSPreps Twitter account will have plenty of coverage of holiday events. 

Pontiac Holiday Tournament

Dates: Dec. 27-29

Team to Watch: The always-loaded field includes Public League powerhouses like Simeon and Curie along with suburban greats like Bloom, Benet and Oak Park-River Forest. It'll be fascinating to see if Bloom can emerge victorious after the strong start as the young Blazing Trojans have already won some huge early-season games.

Must-see First-Round Matchup: Oak Park-River Forest matching up with West Aurora could be a semifinal in some events, but it falls on 9 p.m. on opening night as two former top-25 teams with plenty of senior star power do battle.

Proviso West Holiday Tournament

Dates: Dec. 26-29

Team to Watch: Plenty of great teams highlight this field, including top 25 teams like Whitney Young, Bogan, Uplift and Leo. Some really good teams in the middle of the field include Hillcrest, Fenwick and Proviso East. But the Dolphins are the No. 1 team in the area with the starpower to back it up. They'll be favorites to claim this title.  

Must-see First-Round Matchup: Fenwick and Dunbar has a chance to be pretty intriguing. As of this writing, Dunbar stand at an unbeaten 7-0 and leaders of the Public League White-Central. The Friars will still be the favorites behind sophomore Bryce Hopkins, but if Dunbar remains unbeaten this one could be a ton of fun. 

Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic 

Dates: Dec. 26-29

Team to Watch: A holiday event with five ranked teams (Willowbrook, Oswego East, Homewood-Flossmoor, Marian Catholic, DePaul Prep), this might be the most wide-open field of any. DePaul Prep is the team to watch here among the ranked teams. The Rams would love to win a big event to gain some confidence for the postseason, as this team would love to play in Peoria. 

Must-see First-Round Matchup: St. Charles East and Stevenson should be two pretty even teams off to pretty good starts this season. The Patriots are in the mix in the North Suburban while the Saints have some solid early wins.

Wheeling Hardwood Classic

Dates: Dec. 26-29

Team to Watch: Wheeling has a resurgence this year as ranked teams include Waukegan, Glenbrook South and St. Viator. Niles North is another team to keep an eye on as this field could have a lot of potential winners. The Lions will be the team to track the most, as they're a top-ten team who lost their Thanksgiving event earlier this year to Evanston. 

Must-see First-Round Matchup: Deerfield battles Buffalo Grove as both teams are off to 2-0 starts in conference play after sluggish starts. If both of these teams continue clicking then this might be the closest first-round matchup. 

State Farm Holiday Classic

Dates: Dec. 26-29

Team to Watch: Kenwood is the top seed at the large-school field in Bloomington, as they have tough competition from all over the state. The Broncos have Joliet Central, Metamora, Rock Island to contend with among a field that has hopefuls from Class 3A and 4A. 

Must-see First-Round Matchup: Rock Island will get a major test against North Lawndale. Don't be fooled by the Phoenix's 3-3 record -- they're a very tough out. 

 

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