TOC to cast more stars than ever
If greatness is the confluence of talent, stakes and drama, then high school girls' basketball may have had its best night when, a year ago in the Nike Tournament of Champions semifinals, Long Beach Poly (Calif.) overcame 33 points from Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis to knock off national No. 1 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) by five, and Brea Olinda (Brea, Calif.) survived Bolingbrook (Ill.) in double-overtime.
For an encore, the TOC is featuring its most power-packed field ever, stuffing 20 nationally ranked teams into its top two divisions, proving again that, as the sport of girls' basketball continues to explode, the four-day tournament in Chandler, Ariz., is its bellwether.
Led by No. 2 St. Mary's (Phoenix, Ariz.), for all purposes a "home-team" favorite, seven of the top 10 teams in the preseason POWERADE FAB 50 were secured by TOC tournament director Steve Kozaki for the Joe Smith Invitational, Dec. 17-22. The others include No. 3 Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro, Md.), No. 5 Saint John's College (Washington, D.C.), No. 7 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), No. 8 Bolingbrook (Ill.), No. 9 St. Mary's (Stockton, Calif.) and No. 10 MacArthur (Irving, Texas). Mater Dei is the two-time defending mythical national high school champions.