The Bass Pro tournament of Champions is hosted at the Great Southern Bank arena which is home to the local, Missouri State Bears. This tournament is one of the most attended high school basketball events that throughout the years has hosted many top teams and future National Basketball Association (NBA) stars.
In the past 20 years, some NBA players that have played at the TOC are Anthony Tolliver (alumni of our school, graduated in 2003), Demarcus Cousins (2008), John Wall (2009), Julius Randle (2013), Ben Simmons (2014), Jayson Tatum (2016), and Marvin Bagley (2018). All of these players have had respectable NBA careers and Tatum was the superstar on the Boston Celtics who won the Championship last year. Clearly the TOC produces highly skilled and talented players.
Locally, Kickapoo and Rogersville have been picked to represent the Midwest. These two teams are projected to be the best teams in the area and will compete against some of the top teams in the country. Our coach, Mitch McHenry had several things to say about the TOC this upcoming January and our chances in it.
“It is just three games out of our 26 game season. It is fun to be a part of, but going into it we know we might be one of the less talented teams. We will still play hard and represent Southwest Missouri, but Bass Pro is good at getting some of the top teams in the country,” McHenry said.
McHenry is mainly looking forward to this year’s opportunity at the TOC to face some of the top teams in the country.
Schools such as St. John Bosco (California), Calvary Christian (Florida), Wheeler (Georgia), Paul VI (Virginia), Bartlett (Tennessee) and Principia (Missouri) are all the teams that are from around the United States that will give the Chiefs and the Wildcats some good competition.
“Of the teams who are in it, Paul VI has been in it for a long time and about six out of the eight teams they have coming to the TOC are in the top 20 in the nation. It is going to be very competitive,” McHenry said.
Bass Pro is always able to get big names in the tournament for the Midwest to come and watch. Having the top teams in the nation come and play here in Springfield will really get people to attend and get our local teams more recognition.
The Logan-Rogersville Wildcats are the other local team in the TOC and they are one of the younger teams in the area. Three of their starters are coming back who are looking to have a great season next year.
Sophomore Chase Branham, junior Marcus Moore and freshman Titus Moore are all coming back and are the soul to the Rogersville squad.
“Rogersville has some good athletes, one of them is getting power five offers from colleges [Branham] and they have two big forwards [Moore brothers] coming back that will contribute in the tournament,” McHenry said.
Rogersville is looking to get good competition in before their hopes to claim a state championship title this coming year.
Kickapoo is only losing one starter, forward Jackson Shorter, and another senior, forward Levi Philips. The Chiefs are full of junior standout players such as guards in Reese Kimrey, Elijah Nabors, Vincent Mhire, and Rylee Tan, wings in Brayden Roubidoux, Jeydon Suddarth, and William Winn, and forward Brock Thompson. Jackson Shorter was a vital piece for the Chiefs who was a 6’6″, do all forward.
“Brock Thompson is our only other forward coming back, so we will have to find some other pieces. You can’t really replace a 6’6 that’s just gonna show up and be able to play multiple roles on the floor, but we will have good opportunities for some other guys. Our junior class, going to be seniors, are very important, and we need our sophomores, Jeydon Suddarth and William Winn to step up and have good years for us and they will have many opportunities to do so,” McHenry said.
This upcoming TOC will prove to the local teams if they have it or not in hopes of competing in the state tournament and will give them good examples of what their weaknesses are and if they can truly stay with the best in basketball.
