Renamed holiday tournament looks primed for thrills, drama

The 58th annual Christmas basketball tournament at the Show Me Center has a new name this year, but among the things that figure to remain the same are excitement and down-the-wire finishes.

Action for the seMissourian Christmas Tournament -- it used to be called the University High School Tournament -- begins Thursday and ends the following Monday with the finals.

There have been tremendous tournaments in the past, the thrills coming early and often even during the years when the field wasn't especially strong.

True, the tournament doesn't contain the luster it once did, when sometimes as many as three eventual state champions participated, but it's still a highly popular event, particularly among the smaller schools. They get the rare opportunity to play in a college arena and also get the rare opportunity to match their skills against the area's bigger schools.

The tournament has taken plenty of shots over the years from various corners, largely because there are always going to be some pretty bad teams at the bottom of the draw, which often leads to some huge first-round mismatches.

But one thing I've always liked about the tournament is the opportunity it affords fans to see virtually all of the teams in the immediate area on one day. Where else are you going to get that?

And, once those early blowouts are over, the tournament generally becomes highly competitive regardless of how good the top teams are.

So, what to look for this year? Defending champion Charleston deservedly received a unanimous No. 1 seed because the Bluejays appear to be extremely solid. But that doesn't guarantee that they'll add to their record of 14 tournament titles. For proof of that, just look to the two years prior to last, when they were seeded first but didn't even make the finals.

Bigger area schools like , Notre Dame, Jackson and Central all look like legitimate contenders and you definitely can't rule out smaller schools like Scott City, Oran and defending Class 1 state champion Bell City, among others. Scott City has been particularly impressive so far.

If there is one thing the tournament has proven to be in recent years, it's unpredictable.

And it always proves to be exciting, as should again be the case.

Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team got drilled 81-56 at Arkansas-Little Rock Tuesday night, but the Indians at least had a few locals on their side.

In the stands for the game were former Southeast fan favorites Brian Bunche and Kahn Cotton, who are both from Little Rock and still live in the area.

Bunche made his mark with the Indians as a rugged, defensive-minded forward for their NCAA Division I Tournament team of 1999-2000.

Cotton made his mark with the Indians as a clutch-shooting guard on coach Gary Garner's first two Southeast teams, including the 1998-1999 squad that missed out on an NCAA Tournament berth only because Murray State's Aubrey Reese threw in a miraculous shot at the buzzer in the OVC Tournament final.

Bunche has been playing professionally in Holland, and the former high school football star is also getting ready for a tryout with the Seattle Seahawks after being noticed playing for a Little Rock semi-pro team.

Cotton has a well-paying job in the field of business working for the University of Arkansas Medical Center.

I got to know both young men well during their Southeast playing days and really liked them. It was great catching up on old times and seeing that they're both doing really good.

Southeast's newly remodeled and refurbished weight room, which was done totally through private funding, is quite impressive and should be a big boon for all the school's athletic teams.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian