Beach Ball Classic announces stellar field for 2015 event

Another year, another stacked field for the Beach Ball Classic.

The teams for the 35th annual tournament were released late Monday. The group includes a pair of schools boasting national championships from various media outlets in the past two seasons, a handful of repeat out-of-area schools and three local teams.

“It couldn’t get much better than this,” BBC Executive Director John Rhodes said in the release.

The favorites for this year’s Beach Ball – to be held Dec. 26-31 at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center – should be relatively clear. Monteverde Academy (Fla.), Mustang (Okla.) and Mater Dei (Calif.) each appear in national top 10 lists. Although Mustang’s top player reportedly recently moved to another state, the Broncos have plenty of remaining talent.

That’s not to say another school couldn’t rise up to challenge one of those three. Poca won a West Virginia state championship last winter. Several of the Dots’ top players – who have played in local AAU events on the Grand Strand this summer – have NCAA Division I offers after helping their high school program to a 27-0 finish last season.

St. Edward (Ohio), St. Francis (Ga.) and Shadow Mountain (Ariz.) will be making trips back to the Beach Ball after playing in it last season. Shadow Mountain is coached by former University of Arizona standout and NBA guard Mike Bibby. Until Franklin (Ohio) guard Luke Kennard broke it last December, Bibby held the Beach Ball scoring record.

Three local teams will be included this year. Joining founding member Socastee – the only team to play in all 35 tournaments – will be regular participant Myrtle Beach and St. James. The Sharks will be playing in the event for just the second time, following their first invitation in 2012.

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St. James is coming off a trip to the third round of the Class AAA playoffs and its best overall season in school history.

Nearby Mullins will be the fourth in-state program to participate. The Auctioneers lost in the opening round last year. However, guard Jalek Felton made waves when he announced he was making a verbal commitment to North Carolina. Felton, who has continued to play a national schedule this summer and is considered a five-star prospect by ESPN.com, will be a junior.

Bishop Gorman (Nev.) defeated Franklin (Ohio) in the 2014 Beach Ball championship game.

This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 8:20 AM with the headline "Beach Ball Classic announces stellar field for 2015 event."