| Release Date: | 12/17/2008 |
| News Title: | 2008 Deep South Classic--Local Holiday High School Basketball Tournament Changes Format |
The Deep South Classic, one of Atlanta and Georgia’s top holiday basketball tournaments for nearly two decades is scaling back.
We’re scaling back in size but not in what we expect will be quality high school basketball,” stated .stated Tournament Director Les Witmer. ‘We were impacted by this year’s calendar and also the economy.”
Sixteen teams, all from Georgia, are set to kick off the 18th Annual 2008 Deep South Classic holiday high school basketball tournament which begins Saturday, December 27. The long running tournament will be held December 27, 29 & 30 at the Brookwood High School. Each team will play three times with finals and consolation games on December 30. For complete listings of the schedule go to www.deepsouthclassic.com.
According to the Tournament Director because of the holiday schedule that would have the weekend fall in the middle of the tournament and sponsorship concerns, the Deep South Classic will be changing its format for 2008. Instead of a 32-team (16 boys and 16 girls teams) 4-day tournament held at two sites the Deep South Classic will be a 16-team (8 boys and 8 girls teams) 3-day tournament held only at Brookwood High School. In addition, for 2008 the tournament will be for mostly local Georgia teams.
“We will use both Brookwood High School gyms--both are 94 foot, wood floor surfaces--and the game schedule will be 2:00, 3:45, 5:30 and 7:15 p.m.,” added Witmer. “We’ve got quite a line up for 2008 with a nice combination of teams that have played in the tournament before and some quality teams playing for the first time—and teams from different classifications and regions that don’t normally play each other.”
This year’s tournament will feature the return of former Brookwood coach Eddie Martin, now the Coach of the Greater Atlanta Christian boys. Martin was at Brookwood when the Deep South Classic began in 1991.
In 1991, the Brookwood High School basketball coaches including Martin, and the BHS Tip-Off Club created the Holiday Basketball Tournament. The original Deep South Classic was a three day, 16 team, boys and girls local tournament held at Brookwood High School. The Deep South Classic is still held each year between Christmas and New Year and has grown to be one of the most successful in the country. The tournament is proud of the high level of competition it achieved with past participants of both boys and girls teams coming from 19 different states.
“The backbone of the successful tournament continues to be the outstanding volunteer support and local business sponsorship the tournament has received," stated Witmer.
In 1998 a major decision was made to increase the size of the tournament. South Gwinnett High School also located in Snellville became a co-host. This added a new dimension to the tournament with both schools located 20 miles east of Atlanta, in a community which is very supportive of youth athletic and academic activities. From 1998 until 2007 the tournament included 32 teams—16 boys’ and 16 girls’ teams.
“We regret having to cut back but with the holiday falling where it does this year we would have had teams staying over the weekend and also, with state of the economy our resources and sponsorship has been hit hard,” said Witmer.
Teams participating this year include six school that will have both their boys ad girls teams—Brookwood, Grayson, Greater Atlanta Christian, Loganville, North Cobb and Peachtree Ridge. Boys teams include South Forsyth and South Cobb and girls teams include Northwest Whitfield and Buford.
Five girls teams in the Deep South Classic are coming off state tournament appearances. On the boys side GAC reached the state tournament last year as did Peachtree Ridge and South Forsyth.
“It’s always amazing how many of these teams played well into the post season last year and in compiling information on them for this season, it’s obvious there will be some highly competitive match-ups early and there should be lots of interest in our Deep South Classic Top Prospects for 2008 that we put together for our college coaches and recruiters.” stated Tournament Director Les Witmer.
“We’re very proud to run a high quality tournament now in its 18th year and do so with just local sponsorship,” concluded Witmer. “We always get great feedback and comments from our participating schools with teams wanting to return here who have played in major tournaments with national sponsorship. That says a lot for our community, our local sponsors and the many volunteers who are responsible for us being able to host this tournament.”
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