COLUMN: A flood of hoops with lots more to come

I watched a lot of basketball during the last week. A lot. So much that I may or may not have tried to subdue my rambunctious kids on Thursday by stepping in front of them and trying to draw a charge. It may or may not have worked.

Twenty-eight games in four days. That's what the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament was for me.

Not all of those games were great. In fact, the first couple of days were a little slow when it came to thrills, but there were still moments that stand out. A 37-point performance from Bell City's Cole Nichols. Tournament darling Chaffee. (There were only three upsets all tournament, two of which came from the 14th-seeded Red Devils. The third was really a non-upset of No. 2 Cape Central over No. 1 Jackson.) A game in which one team scored only three points.

As the days wore on, the games, thankfully, got more exciting. Advance played in tight games against Charleston and Scott County Central, the battle of the Scotts -- County and City -- came down to the wire and the Jackson-Charleston semifinal was a good one. To top it all off, we couldn't have asked for a more heart-pumping final than a two-point game decided in the last seconds between bitter rivals.

It was a tournament of teams, as much as it was players. Sure, there were players like Cape Central's Al Young and Scott County Central's Jeffery Porter who people wanted to see play, and both had strong tournaments. But there was no one who had a perfect tournament, and whenever someone had a down day, someone else stepped up to grab some of the spotlight -- even the Tigers won their title in Young's most nondescript performance of the week.

Maybe the lack of true star power had something to do with why attendance -- 17,333 across four days -- was the lowest its been since at least 2004 (that's where the records I have access to stop). More likely, it was unfortunate timing with some miserable weather and flooding issues that kept some folks at bay. But if you were in the building for any of those big games I mentioned, your eardrums wouldn't know anyone was missing. Besides, it seems unlikely you'll see 4,000 people showing up for a sporting event at the Show Me Center any time soon.

When I was asked how my first Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament went, I used only one word. The only word I could think of -- hectic. I covered every one of those 28 games in some fashion, whether it was writing a story or doing updates and chatting on the website. For 95 percent of the event, I had time to think of nothing but basketball. By the end I was exhausted.

But there is one more word to describe the experience as well -- memorable. In addition to the aforementioned quirks and stories, I'll always remember my first Christmas Tournament championship, which also happened to be my first Jackson-Cape Central experience, which also happened to be one heck of a game. Of course, my expectations for that rivalry are now sky high, so good luck living up to that one every time out.

The question is where the 16 teams go from here. There was so much basketball, and sometimes you could see teams grow before your very eyes. But there's also still so much more basketball to go. We've barely seen the tip of the iceberg.

After it was said and done, Young told me that since his freshman year the Christmas Tournament was the only thing he wanted to win. I don't doubt the genuineness of that statement, though I'm guessing that if he was pressed, Young could probably come up with some pretty big games he'd like to win even more. Some of them likely still lie ahead.

That's the same for all the teams and athletes and coaches involved. There's so much more to come, and, if the last week was any sign, it will be a fun ride. The best part is I'll only have to cover it one game at a time.

Josh Mlot is the sports editor of semoball.com and the Southeast Missourian.