Christmas tournament provides thrills

One of my favorite times of the entire sports season begins this week at the Show Me Center.

It's the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, which has gone by a variety of names over the years but has remained constant in the level of thrills and excitement it provides fans.

The 65th annual event, featuring 16 area boys basketball teams, tips off at 9 a.m. Saturday with the first of eight opening-round games.

Granted, the first round usually features plenty of blowouts, some by ridiculous margins. The same holds true for some of the second-round matchups.

But many of the region's all-time classic games have taken place during the semifinal and final rounds, which usually feature frenzied fans filling the Show Me Center (and Houck Field House in the old days).

The big question this year is whether anybody can challenge defending champion Scott County Central, which despite competing in the state's smallest classification features two of Missouri's premier players in electrifying senior point guard Bobby Hatchett and smooth 6-foot-8 junior forward Otto Porter.

SCC was not challenged last year, winning its four games by an average of 39 points to capture its first Christmas Tournament crown since 1990. That was a prelude to the Braves rolling to the Class 1 state title.

Perhaps more impressively, the Braves' average margin of victory in the semifinal and final -- when the contests normally are tight -- was 25 points, including an 80-62 rout of Notre Dame for the championship.

According to the seedings, Notre Dame is again expected to have the best chance of upending SCC as the Bulldogs garnered the No. 2 seed for the second straight season.

Jackson is seeded third, with Charleston, Advance, Cape Central, Oak Ridge -- the only undefeated team in the field -- and Oran rounding out the top eight.

Try as those squads might, as long as Hatchett and Porter stay healthy, I can't imagine anybody keeping the Braves from a repeat.

See you at the Show Me Center.

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While it doesn't garner nearly the attention of the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, the area's premier high school girls basketball event will take place this week at the Show Me Center.

The 14th annual Saint Francis Medical Center Holiday Classic, which runs today through Wednesday, is also quite a tournament.

Notre Dame, powered by Arkansas State signee Jane Morrill, is the top seed, followed by Farmington, Jackson, Cape Central, Sparta (Ill.), Perryville, Woodland and Saxony Lutheran.

Farmington slipped past Notre Dame in overtime to claim last year's title.

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I happened to be poking around the Southeast Missouri State athletics website recently and saw that the 2010 baseball schedule is posted.

The attractive slate features 28 home games, including 12 of the Redhawks' 24 Ohio Valley Conference contests.

As usual, many of Southeast's toughest nonconference opponents will be on the road, beginning with a season-opening three game series at Auburn on Feb. 19 to 21.

Southeast also has a series late in the year at Nebraska, set for May 7 to 9, in addition to a March 5 to 7 tournament at Mississippi State that features matchups with the host squad and Michigan State.

Among the nonleague home highlights is a March 9 doubleheader with Missouri State, followed by a March 13 and 14 three-game series with a North Dakota squad coached by former Southeast assistant Jeff Dodson.

The Missouri State and North Dakota dates are part of 11 straight home games from March 9 to 24 that also includes a three-game series with Valparaiso and single contests with Freed-Hardeman, Saint Louis and Arkansas State.

Overall, Southeast plays 15 of its first 23 games at home. The Capaha Field opener is Feb. 23 with Mid-Continent, followed by a three-game series with IPFW Feb. 26 to 28.

The schedule includes the annual home-and-home series with regional rivals Southern Illinois, Saint Louis and Arkansas State, along with a two-game set at Central Arkansas.

Baseball is always one of the more popular sports at Southeast, and the season isn't all that far off.

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Former Southeast men's basketball player Jimmy Drew finally has suited up for DePaul.

Drew missed all of the 2008-09 Southeast season with an injury before transferring to DePaul. He joined the Blue Demons as a walk-on, and last Monday was granted a transfer waiver by the NCAA, making him immediately eligible.

Drew came off the bench for DePaul (7-4) in a Wednesday loss to American, and did not see action in a Saturday win over Texas State.

The junior guard played three minutes against American, missing both of his 3-point attempts and going scoreless.

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Former Southeast assistant men's basketball coach Rodney Hamilton is in his first season as women's basketball coach at Indiana Tech, an NAIA school in Fort Wayne, Ind.

The last time I gave an update on Hamilton, who spent the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons at Southeast, he had just taken a job as a men's assistant at NAIA Lambuth in Jackson, Tenn. The opportunity at Indiana Tech apparently came up shortly thereafter.

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Here's wishing everybody a wonderful and healthy holiday season.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.