Why a Beach Ball Classic with 8 state champs and loads of talent may see a 33-year first
Will this finally be the year another team from South Carolina wins the Beach Ball Classic?
Only one team from the Palmetto State has won the holiday high school basketball tournament, and it was 33 years ago.
An Eau Claire team led by legendary coach George Glymph and tournament MVP and Slam Dunk champion Barry Manning won in 1986, when the tournament was still played at its original home of Socastee High School.
Dorman High (8-1) enters the 39th annual Beach Ball as one of three participating teams ranked in the MaxPreps national top 25 rankings at No. 16 along with No. 15 Long Island Lutheran of New York and No. 19 Harvard-Westlake of Studio City, California.
So the defending three-time Class 5A state champions are among the favorites with Clemson signee P.J. Hall and Butler signee Myles Tate, but they’ll have to overcome the aforementioned ranked teams and a total of seven other teams in the field that are reigning state champions or ranked No. 1 in their state.
“I do think Dorman has a shot, with the way it lines up for them, to make a run at it. I think they have a nice draw and they’re talented and good enough to win it.,” said Kevin Schneider, vice president and national recruiting director for Big Shots, the Myrtle Beach-based basketball scouting, recruiting and tournament/camp service, who provided a breakdown of the participating players and teams for The Sun News.
”They can beat anybody in the country,” he said.
Reigning N.Y. State Federation champs Long Island Lutheran (6-1), the 2017 Beach Ball runner-up to Montverde Academy of Florida, lost its first game of the year last week in the ‘Iolani Classic semifinals 68-58 against MaxPreps No. 12 Wasatch Academy of Utah.
Harvard-Westlake (12-0) has defeated MaxPreps No. 20 Centennial of Corona, Calif. Morgan Park of Chicago has been ranked in the top 25 this year, and both Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, a three-time defending Maryland state champion, and Whitney Young of Chicago have been ranked near the top of USA Today’s Northeast and Midwest regional top 10 rankings, respectively.
Other teams include Buchtel (Ohio), St. Thomas (Texas), Izard County (Arkansas), St. Francis (Georgia), Coronado (Nevada), St . Johns (DC), Millennium (Arizona) and University (West Virginia).
“You have eight teams that are No. 1 in their state coming in this year in South Carolina, New York, Illinois, Arizona, West Virginia, Maryland, Georgia and Nevada,” Schneider said. “To have that along with a player like D.J. Steward, who is going to Duke, and a Jaden Hardy who is the No. 1 shooting guard in the country in 2021, that gives you the star power that people want to see those type of players.”
Marquee first-round matchups include unbeaten teams Harvard-Westlake against Baltimore Poly, Millennium against University, and Morgan Park against St. Johns. “Then as you advance on you’re having defending state champions against state champions, or No. 1 teams in their states playing against each other, and I think that will lead to some really good matchups as the tournament advances on,” Schneider said.
Illinois is particularly well represented, with two of the top programs in the state in Whitney Young and Morgan Park – both of Chicago – and University of Illinois commitments Curbelo and Miller playing.
“One thing I love that [tournament director] John Rhodes has done . . . is he has kind of stuck more to the high school teams, not the private charter teams that are popping up that are having kids come in and take classes online,” Schneider said. “I think it’s more your traditional high school holiday basketball event. He wants the best traditional high school basketball teams to attend the Beach Ball.”
Some of the top prospects in the tournament this year include:
▪ Whitney Young (Illinois) senior 6-3 guard D.J. Steward, a five-star recruit who has signed to play at Duke.
▪ Coronado (Nevada) 6-4 junior Jaden Hardy, ESPN’s top-rated shooting guard in the class of 2021 who has received approximately 30 offers including Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Kansas, LSU, Memphis, Michigan, UCLA, Texas Tech and Southern California. “He’s coming in as one of the hottest players in the nation regardless of class,” Schneider said.
▪ Morgan Park (Illinois) 6-3 senior shooting guard Adam Miller, a five-star prospect ranked in the top 30 in his class by ESPN who has signed with Illinois.
▪ Long Island Lutheran (NY) 6-2 senior point guard Andre Curbelo, who is ranked among ESPN’s top 55 in the senior class and has also signed with Illinois.
▪ Long Island Lutheran 6-8 senior power forward and Ohio State commitment Zed Key.
▪ Long Island Lutheran 6-6 junior guard Rafael Pinzon averaged 17 points per game for Puerto Rico’s U17 FIBA team and has offers from Georgia Tech, Xavier and Dayton.
▪ Millennium (Arizona) 6-8 junior power forward DaRon Holmes, a top-30 junior according to Rivals with offers from UCLA, Virginia, Marquette, Arizona, Kansas, Arizona State, California, Southern Cal, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Minnesota, Mississippi and others.
▪ Baltimore Poly (Maryland) 6-8 senior wing Justin Lewis is a Team USA member who is ranked among the top 60 seniors by ESPN and signed with Marquette.
▪ Dorman 6-9 senior power forward P.J. Hall, the top-ranked senior in South Carolina who has signed with Clemson.
▪ Dorman 6-foot senior Myles Tate, a good shooter and speedy point guard who has signed with Butler.
▪ St. Francis (Georgia) athletic 6-2 senior point guard Dwon Odom, who is ranked in the top 50 of his class by 247Sports and has signed with Xavier.
▪ St. Francis 6-5 junior shooting guard Jusaun Holt, a top-100 player in his class according to 247Sports who has offers from Georgia, Georgia Tech, Washington, Tulane and Xavier.
▪ University (W.Va.) 5-11 senior point guard Kaden Metheny, who averaged 27 points and made 16 3-pointers in three games in last year’s Beach Ball, including a tournament record-tying nine treys in one game, has signed with Bowling Green.
In addition, Coronado 6-9 sophomore power forward Jaxon Kohler has offers from Texas Tech, BYU, Utah and others; Harvard-Westlake (California) 6-9 senior center Mason Hooks is committed to Princeton; Morgan Park 6-5 wing Brandon Weston is a top-100 senior with offers from Nebraska, St. Johns, Seton Hall, Illinois, Wake Forest and others; St. Johns (DC) 6-2 senior point guard Ishmael Leggett is committed to Rhode Island; and Whitney Young 6-2 senior point guard Tyler Beard has offers from DePaul, Butler, West Virginia, Iowa, Purdue, Virginia Tech and others; and Whitney Young 6-6 junior power forward Grant Newell has an offer from DePaul.
Myrtle Beach 6-1 guard Emorie Knox is a Charleston Southern commitment.
Schneider expects numerous college head and assistant coaches to attend the tournament to see their commitments and some of the nation’s top uncommitted talent, including those from Duke, Florida State, Wake Forest, Clemson and Illinois.
“I’m sure we’ll have a great college coaches’ turnout at this event just because the talent is there,” Schneider said.
Four games per day will be streamed live on HTC at HTCInc.net and aired on the Stadium television network, including all games in the winner’s bracket.
Schedule
Thursday
Game 1 – Butchel (OH) vs Dorman (SC), 3:30 p.m.
Game 2 – St. Thomas (TX) vs Whitney Young (IL), 5:15 p.m.
Game 3 – Izard County (AR) vs St. Francis (GA), 7 p.m.
Game 4 – Coronado (NV) vs Socastee (SC), 8:45 p.m.
Friday
Game 5 – Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 2, noon
Game 6 – Loser Game 3 vs Loser Game 4, 1:45 p.m.
Game 7 – Harvard Westlake (CA) vs Baltimore Poly (MD), 3:30 p.m.
Game 8 – St . Johns (DC) and Morgan Park (IL), 5:15 p.m.
Game 9 – Millennium (AZ) vs University (WV), 7 p.m.
Game 10 – Long Island Island (NY) vs Myrtle Beach (SC), 8:45 p.m.
Saturday
Game 11 – Loser Game 7 vs Loser Game 8, noon
Game 12 – Loser Game 9 vs Loser Game 10, 1:45 p.m.
Game 13 – Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2, 3:30 p.m.
Game 14 – Winner Game 3 vs Winner Game 4, 5:15 p.m.
Game 15 – Winner Game 7 vs Winner Game 8, 7 p.m.
Game 16 – Winner Game 9 vs Winner Game 10, 8:45 p.m.
Sunday
Georgetown High (SC) vs Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach (SC), 4 p.m.
Dunk and 3-point contests, 6:30 p.m.
Monday
Game 17 – Loser Game 5 vs Loser Game 6, 8:30 a.m.
Game 18 – Loser Game 11 vs Loser Game 12, 10:15 a.m.
Game 19 – Winner Game 5 vs Winner Game 6, noon
Game 20 – Winner Game 11 vs Winner Game 12, 1:45 p.m.
Game 21 – Loser Game 13 vs Loser Game 14, 3:30 p.m.
Game 22 – Loser Game 15 vs Loser Game 16, 5:15 p.m.
Game 23 – Winner Game 13 vs Winner Game 14, 7 p.m.
Game 24 – Winner Game 15 vs Winner Game 16, 8:45 p.m.
Tuesday
Game 25 – Loser Game 17 vs Loser Game 18 (Played at the Myrtle Beach Sports Center), 9:30 a.m.
Game 26 – Loser Game 21 vs Loser 22, 8:30 a.m.
Game 27 – Winner Game 17 vs Winner Game 1, 10:15 a.m.
Game 28 – Loser Game 19 vs Loser Game 20, noon
Consolation Championship: Winner Game 19 vs Winner Game 20, 1:45 p.m.
Fifth Place: Winner Game 21 vs Winner Game 22, 3:30 p.m.
Third Place: Loser Game 23 vs Loser Game 24, 5:30 p.m.
Championship: Winner Game 23 vs Winner Game 24, 7:30 p.m.
This story was originally published December 25, 2019 at 1:07 PM.
