Bishop Gorman headlines star-studded Beach Ball Classic field

Four former Beach Ball Classic champions are included in what is shaping up to be another star-studded event.

The 16-team field, released to The Sun News Wednesday, will feature Nevada powerhouse Bishop Gorman, which won the tournament in 2014, 2013 champ Providence (Fla.), New York’s McQuaid Jesuit (2002) and inaugural Classic winner Christ the King, the New York squad that won it all in 1981.

There are also a number of others who will be on display when the 36th annual event tips off Dec. 26 at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

“I think the quality teams we have will be just as good,” tournament director John Rhodes said. “You’ve got Gorman coming in here. You have Westchester (Calif.) coming; they’re just as good. Those two schools by themselves are very highly recognized.”

The perennial national headliner Bishop Gorman and Westchester, one of the top teams in California this season, won’t be the only ones drawing plenty of attention.

Three prominent Georgia programs will enter after impressive runs this past spring. Westlake won the Class AAAAAA title, Pace Academy won the Class AA crown and Jonesboro is coming off a 28-win season in which it fell one win shy of the Class AAAA championship.

Dillard, which previously played in the Classic in 2000, won the Class AAAAAA title in Florida in February.

Christ the King won the 1981 Beach Ball with a 53-52 win over W.T. Woodson and then played in the Classic again in 1982, 1996 and 2002.

Bishop O’Connell was the event’s runner-up in 2002 and 2012 and has won 13 total Beach Ball games in eight appearances. It is coached by Joe Wootten, the son of Hall of Fame DeMatha coach Morgan Wootten. Father Henry Carr out of Toronto won the consolation bracket title in 2006.

Six programs – Evanston Township (Ill.), Pace Academy, Jonesboro, Imhotep Charter (Penn.), Westchester and Westlake – will be appearing for the first time.

Several high profile players are featured on national watch lists and have the scholarship offers to prove it.

That includes six seniors among Rivals’ latest list of the top-75 hoops talents for the Class of 2017: 6-foot-10 Pace Academy forward Wendall Carter, currently ranked No. 4; Jonesboro’s M.J. Walker (No. 22); Bishop Gorman’s Charles O’Bannon (No. 27) – the son and nephew of former UCLA standouts Charles and Ed O’Bannon; Evanston Township guard Nojel Eastern (No. 55); and Westlake forward Chuma Okeke (No. 62).

Westlake’s Jamie Louis Matthew Mayer are Nos. 30 and 58, respectively, in Rivals’ Class of 2018 rankings.

The full brackets and schedule of games is expected to be released later this summer.

This story was originally published June 8, 2016 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Bishop Gorman headlines star-studded Beach Ball Classic field."