LeBron James’ appearance at the 2003 Pangos Dream Classic in Los Angeles set the tone for the plethora of MLK weekend showcases around the country in the past decade. Photo: Kirby Lee
Over the past decade, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday has turned into a huge ratings bonanza as many of the nation’s top teams play in showcase games over the three-day weekend. Most of the attention is focused on the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass. For some teams, such as No. 1 Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) and No. 10 Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.), there is business to attend to beforehand at the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions in Springfield, Mo. Next week’s rankings won’t be published until Tuesday after all the results from MLK Monday are accounted for.
By Ronnie Flores & Mark Tennis
Contributing: Doug Huff
The Pangos Dream Classic began in 1995 as a vehicle to showcase Southern California’s top basketball teams and as a tribute to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The event hit its watershed moment in January 2003 when LeBron James’ team from St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron, Ohio) rolled into UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion to face Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.).
Before a sold-out, star-studded crowd and a ESPN2 television audience, James had 21 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and two steals to lead the Fightin’ Irish to a 64-58 win. St. Vincent-St. Mary went on to capture the Student Sports FAB 50 national crown with an undefeated on-court mark.
More than 10 years later, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is a staple for showcases not just in Southern California, but all over the country.
Most of the attention nowadays focuses on the four-day Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mo. The big matchup on Saturday, January 18 is Student Sports’ FAB 50 No. 15 Prime Prep (Ft. Worth, Texas) taking on a dangerous Huntington Prep (Huntington, W. Va.) club. Last week Prime Prep defeated previous No. 7 Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.) 61-56 at the Mustang Madness event in Kentucky. The two schools are scheduled to play again on Tuesday.
Sunday at the Hoophall Classic, No. 14 La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.) faces one-loss Our Savior New American (Centereach, N.Y.) and No. 23 St. Joseph (Metuchen, N.J.) is pitted against previous No. 45 DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.), which suffered its first loss of the season on January 11 to Bishop O’Connell (Arlington, Va.) in Washington Catholic Athletic Conference play.
Two days earlier, the Joe Wooten-coached Knights pulled out a 63-58 victory over previous No. 5 Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.) in WCAC play. Paul VI doesn’t fall too far in the FAB 50 for three reasons. Its only other loss is to No. 1 Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), it owns a win over No. 7 Whitney Young (Chicago) and still has plenty of tough WCAC games left to play.
Montverde Academy and Paul VI also are part of the field at the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions, scheduled for January 16-18. The field also includes No. 3 White Station (Memphis), Christ The King (Middle Village, N.Y.) and Wesleyan Christian Academy (High Point, N.C.). Unbeaten White Station opens the eight-team bracket with Wesleyan Christian Academy with the winner likely facing Paul VI in a monster semifinal matchup.
At last year’s Bass Pro, Paul VI defeated Montverde Academy, but this time an upset could be tougher to come by because forward Quadree Smith has reportedly left the team. With him or without, Paul VI will have to travel from Springfield to Springfield — Missouri to Massachusetts — to face three-time FAB 50 national champion St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.) on Monday January 20 in a 9:45 AM game.
There are four other big games on tap Monday at the Hoophall Classic and all four will be televised by ESPNU: Wesleyan Christian Academy vs. No. 16 Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.), No. 2 Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) vs. Whitney Young, Montverde Academy vs. No. 6 Curie (Chicago) and No. 5 Mater Dei vs. No. 25 Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia).
That Saturday night-Monday afternoon schedule halfway across the country is always tough. Last year, that was when Montverde dropped back-to-back games in an otherwise dominant season. The trip for the Eagles will be just as tough this time around because Curie, led by Mr. Basketball USA candidate and Kansas recruit Cliff Alexander and his 26 points and 17 rebounds per contest, will be playing on four days rest. With Alexander in the lineup, the Condors are still unbeaten.
Updated Student Sports FAB 50
Boys Basketball National Team Rankings
(Third poll of the -14 regular season; Through games played on Sunday, January 12; Previous ranking in parentheses)
[table id=24 /]
Dropped Out: Previous No. 20 Stevenson (Lincolnshire, Ill.); No. 30 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.); No. 32 Morgan Park (Chicago, Ill.); No. 43 Iowa City West (Iowa City, Iowa); No. 45 DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.).
Bubble Teams: Bishop Montgomery (Torrance, Calif.) 14-1; Capital Christian (Sacramento, Calif.) 14-2; Central (Omaha, Neb.) 11-1; Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.) 10-1; Columbia (Decatur, Ga.) 11-1; Denver East (Denver, Colo.) 10-3; DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) 13-1; De Soto (De Soto, Texas) 16-3; Greensboro Day (Greensboro, N.C.) 18-2; Gulfport (Gulfport, Miss.) 17-1; Hamilton (Memphis, Tenn.) 9-2; Irmo (Irmo, S.C.) 12-1; Johnson (St. Paul, Minn.) 11-2; Lone Peak (Highland, Utah) 9-2; Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) 7-1; North Little Rock (North Little Rock, Ark.) 11-1; O’Connell (Washington, D.C.) 9-5; Parkview (Little Rock, Ark.) 12-1; Patrick School (Elizabeth, N.J.) 4-4; Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.) 12-3; Scotlandville (Baton Rouge, La.) 20-1; Simeon (Chicago, Ill.) 10-2; Stevenson (Lincolnshire, Ill.) 14-1; St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.) 6-1; St. Edward (Lakewood, Ohio) 9-1; Westchester (Los Angeles, Calif.) 13-4; Zion-Benton (Zion, Ill.) 11-2.
Note: The STUDENT SPORTS FAB 50 is a continuation of the National Sports News Service ratings that began in 1952. These were the first national high school rankings and they were compiled by the late Art Johlfs of Minnesota. They were compiled for many years by the late Barry Sollenberger of Phoenix, who merged them into the FAB 50 14 years ago.
In regards to the Newsweek.com article and Findlay Prep, we wanted to touch on some facts that were either overlooked, inaccurately portrayed or not covered by the article’s author.