Tournament Of Champions Primer

<p><em><strong>Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!</strong></em></p> <p>One of the annual basketball traditions in late December is the Tournament Of Champions in Tulsa. It's going to be great to have the TOC back after it was cancelled last season due to the pandemic. Prep Hoops Oklahoma will have wall to wall coverage of the event at the BOK Center. This year, the tournament field features three teams that are currently ranked #1 in their respective classes coming into the tournament. Jenks (6A), Memorial (5A), and Hydro-Eakly (A) are all atop their class rankings heading into this week. </p> <p>Stay tuned to Prep Hoops Oklahoma throughout the three days for live coverage. We'll also be posting plenty about who is having a great tournament and which players are shining on the brightest stage in late December. And as always, you can follow all of the coverage on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/prephoopsok" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>@PrepHoopsOK</strong></a>.</p> <p>For now, let's take a look at the schedule for the first round that begins on Monday, followed by a look at each team in the tournament field this season. </p> <hr /> <h4><strong>MONDAY’S SCHEDULE</strong></h4> <p><strong>Crossings Christian VS Del City - 10:30 AM</strong><br /> <strong>Cashion VS Jenks - 1:30 PM</strong><br /> <strong>Hydro-Eakly VS Memorial - 5:30 PM</strong><br /> <strong>Owasso VS Victory Christian - 8:30 PM</strong></p> <hr /> <h4><strong>TEAM CAPSULES</strong></h4> <h5><strong>Cashion (1-0) Ranked #2 In Class 2A</strong></h5> <p>Cashion is by far the team needing games coming into this week. Because of the football team’s success, making it all the way and winning the state championship, the basketball team pushed back the start of their season to mid-December. The Wildcats come into this week’s tournament with only one game played, that being a 79-31 win over Thomas back on December 14th. Cashion brings back one of the more experienced teams from last year, where they made a run to the Class 2A state tournament, losing to eventual Runner Up, Howe in the quarterfinals. Cashion is led by senior guard [player_tooltip player_id="1164863" first="Vance" last="Raney"]. </p> <h5><strong>Crossings Christian (5-2) Ranked #7 In Class 4A</strong></h5> <p>The first of two defending state champions who find themselves in a new class this season is Crossings Christian. After winning the Class 3A state championship a year ago, Crossings Christian finds themselves up in Class 4A where the competition is certainly tougher and has been dominated by the likes of Heritage Hall and Kingfisher. Crossings beat Beggs in a close one to win the title last year and is off to a 5-2 start this season. They lost their season opener to Millwood and then in the title game of the Christian Heritage tournament. However, senior guard [player_tooltip player_id="955383" first="Reid" last="Lovelace"] and the Knights won’t back down from anyone this week. </p> <h5><strong>Del City (3-3) Ranked #3 In Class 5A</strong></h5> <p>Last year’s Class 6A state champion is one of the top teams in Class 5A this season. Del City dropped down to Class 5A after winning it all in 6A a year ago. The Eagles are off to a rocky start this season, losing their last three games after a 3-0 start. They won their first game in the tough Joe Lawson Invitational in Norman but then lost to Putnam City West and Norman North to close out that tournament 1-2. Despite the 3-3 start, Del City is one of the top teams in Class 5A because they have one of the best players in the state with junior big man [player_tooltip player_id="1068562" first="Brandon" last="Garrison"]. If the guards around the Del City big man can come together, this team will have a shot at back to back titles.</p> <h5><strong>Hydro-Eakly (8-0) Ranked #1 In Class A</strong></h5> <p>Every year, the Tournament Of Champions puts together fantastic match-ups featuring big schools and small schools and it makes for some intriguing storylines. This year is no different as Hydro-Eakly enters the tourney as the smallest school in the tournament. The defending Class A champs are 8-0 on the season and also bring a 33-game winning streak into the tournament after going a perfect 25-0 last year. Leading the way for Hydro-Eakly has been senior guard Nolan Gore. The senior hit what would be the game-winning shot in last year’s state championship game to give Hydro the Class A title. </p> <h5><strong>Jenks (5-0) Ranked #1 In Class 6A</strong></h5> <p>The Jenks Trojans are atop the Class 6A rankings and have had an interesting start to their season. They either win games in blowouts are have to rally and win in overtime. Jenks has won two of their five games in overtime, including beating Moore in the championship game of the Tahlequah tournament. The Trojans came into this season as one of the favorites in Class 6A with a strong senior class returning. Despite missing the state tournament a year ago, the Trojans are going to be tough to keep out of it this season. Led by senior duo [player_tooltip player_id="958389" first="Ben" last="Averitt"] and [player_tooltip player_id="955379" first="Chase" last="Martin"], the Trojans have a fantastic 1-2 punch in that duo. </p> <h5><strong>Memorial (11-0) Ranked #1 In Class 5A</strong></h5> <p>No team has more game experience than Memorial coming into this week’s Tournament Of Champions. That’s typical for Bobby Allison-coached teams as he wants his team to see as much competition as they can before the month of January. The Chargers are off to an 11-0 start and have already put together some really impressive wins on their way to the fast start. It’s hard to argue that there’s another team in Oklahoma, regardless of class that is playing better basketball than the Chargers, who are atop the 5A rankings. Leading the way for a talented and Chargers team this season is senior point guard [player_tooltip player_id="955392" first="Tyreece" last="Frierson"]. The senior guard is off to a fantastic start to his senior year. </p> <h5><strong>Owasso (4-1) Ranked #8 In Class 6A</strong></h5> <p>Similar to Del City and Memorial, Owasso also participated in that competitive Joe Lawson tourney in Norman earlier this month. That’s where the Rams suffered their one and only loss this season when they lost to Putnam City West in the opening round. Owasso would win their next two games and have won three in a row overall as they head into this week’s tournament. The Rams are fresh off an appearance in the state tournament a year ago and bring back plenty of talent from that state tournament team. Leading the way is big man [player_tooltip player_id="955380" first="Caden" last="Fry"], who has been one of the more steady players for Owasso over the last few seasons.</p> <h5><strong>Victory Christian (6-0) Ranked #2 In Class 4A</strong></h5> <p>Our final team in the tournament field is Victory Christian, who is #2 in the current 4A rankings and is off to a 6-0 start, including winning the Inola tournament and beating previously #1 Heritage Hall earlier this month. The Conquerors have one of the best senior guards in the state with [player_tooltip player_id="1158048" first="Joshua" last="Udoumoh"] but Victory is much more than Udoumoh as they are one of the more complete teams in Class 4A. Around Udoumoh is talented and consistent guard play as well as strong and effective post play. Udoumoh is the star that makes the Victory engine go but he isn’t a one-man band and the Conquerors could surprise some teams this week.</p>