U-High tourney looks wide open

Most people expect the 57th annual University High School Christmas Tournament, which begins today at the Show Me Center, to be extremely wide open.

Long gone are the days when a few select squads would dominate the 16-team event. Parity has taken over in the last few years and that trend should continue this week as a host of squads appear capable of challenging for the championship.

"That's one of the things that has made the tournament very exciting in the last few years," said Advance coach Jim Hall, whose squad is the defending champion after being the No. 5 seed last year. "The overall level of competition the last few years is probably better than it's been for a long time. A lot more schools feel like they have a chance to win it these days."

Charleston coach Danny Farmer, whose squad is the No. 1 seed for the four-day event that culminates with Saturday night's title contest, agreed.

"More teams have been a lot more even the last few years," he said. "It's always a very good tournament. If you don't come out and play well, you can get beat. It's like that every year. We're going to have to play well."

Farmer knows that all too well because the Bluejays were also seeded first each of the past two seasons but failed to reach the championship game both times.

Charleston comes in with a losing record of 3-4, but that has been against a rugged schedule.

"We've been playing up and down so far, but it's not like we've been playing any slouches," Farmer said. "We've played some real good teams and hopefully that has helped us get ready for the tournament."

Only one of the remaining top six seeds has a losing record, that being No. 3 Jackson, which is also 3-4 against a tough schedule.

No. 2 Notre Dame (4-3) owns a two-point victory over Charleston, recorded last week. The Bulldogs have also faced a host of top-notch teams so far.

Rounding out the rest of the upper-half seeds are No. 4 Oran (6-1), No. 5 Bell City (6-2), No. 6 Advance (6-1), No. 7 Cape Girardeau Central (1-6) and No. 8 Scott County Central (6-1).

The No. 9 seed is Meadow Heights (6-2), followed by No. 10 Woodland (6-3), No. 11 Kelly (1-6), No. 12 Scott City (1-5), No. 13 Leopold (2-6), No. 14 Delta (2-6), No. 15 Oak Ridge (3-4) and No. 16 Chaffee (1-4).

Following today's eight first-round games, which begin at 9 a.m., Thursday's quarterfinals could feature some extremely interesting matchups if the seeds hold form.

City rivals Notre Dame and Cape Central could square off, as could Jackson and Advance in what would be a rematch of last year's championship game won by the Hornets 61-58. Another intriguing quarterfinal possibility is Oran vs. Bell City, which would feature two of the area's top Class 1A teams.

In addition to Advance nipping Jackson in the 2000 finals, Notre Dame defeated Charleston 59-47 for third place; Oran knocked off Bell City 70-63 to capture fifth place; and Chaffee won the consolation title signifying ninth place with an 84-83 overtime triumph over Scott County Central.

"It should be another really good tournament," Hall said. "I know everybody looks forward to it every year."

Bloomfield Tournament

The 45th annual 16-team Bloomfield Tournament also gets under way today with eight opening-round games.

Three-time defending champion Dexter is again the No. 1 seed, followed by Kennett, Portageville and Twin Rivers.

The first-round schedule: Dexter vs. No. 16 Bloomfield, 9:30 a.m.; Kennett vs. No. 15 East Prairie, 11 a.m.; Portageville vs. No. 14 Greenville, 12:30 p.m.; Twin Rivers vs. No. 13 South Pemiscot, 2 p.m.;

No. 5 Bernie vs. No. 12 Puxico, 4 p.m.; No. 6 Doniphan vs. No. 11 Malden, 5:30 p.m.; No. 7 East Carter County vs. No. 10 Van Buren, 7 p.m.; No. 8 Richland vs. No. 9 Hayti, 8:30 p.m.

The finals will be at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

Park Hills Tournament

The 46th edition of this annual 16-team tourney also begins today with four first-round games. The remaining four opening-round contests will be played Thursday.

Today's schedule consists of No. 1 Park Hills Central vs. No. 16 Caledonia Valley, 4 p.m.; No. 8 Arcadia Valley vs. No. 9 Windsor, 5:30 p.m.; No. 5 Farmington vs. No. 12 Herculaneum, 7 p.m.; and No. 4 South Iron vs. No. 13 West County, 8:30 p.m.

Thursday's slate features No. 3 Perryville vs. No. 14 Marquand, 4 p.m.; No. 6 De Soto vs. No. 11 Potosi, 5:30 p.m.; No. 7 Viburnum vs. No. 10 North County, 7 p.m.; and No. 2 Festus vs. No. 15 Fredericktown, 8:30 p.m.

The championship game will be at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

There will also be an eight-team girls division, with all four first-round games today. St. James and Fredericktown are the top two seeds. The finals will be at 6 p.m. Monday.

Poplar Bluff Showdown

This annual eight-team event that begins Thursday is without a doubt the region's strongest tournament as highly touted squads -- featuring a host of NCAA Division I recruits -- from several states participate.

The most touted team in the field is Vashon from St. Louis, which is ranked among the nation's top 10 teams by most publications. Putnam City (Okla.) is also nationally ranked.

Thursday's first-round schedule consists of North Atlanta (Ga.) vs. McClellan (Ark.), 4 p.m.; Vashon vs. Putnam City, 5:30 p.m.; Poplar Bluff vs. Antioch (Tenn.), 7 p.m.; and Meridian (Miss.) vs. Columbia Hickman, 8:30 p.m.

The title contest will be at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.