I was wondering what everyone's opinions were on who puts on the best holiday season tournament and why. There are many out there; and I've been to a lot of them over the years. What's everyone's thoughts? Give me your rankings and why. I just want to know about the ones during the holiday season, around Christmas, through the first couple of weeks in January.

Edited July 11, 200818 yr by Birdsfan

LexCath tourney, and it's not even close.

Berea Holiday tournament. Great time for a lot of smaller schools.

LexCath tourney, and it's not even close.

 

This is a great tournament, especially when it comes to competition. A couple of other nice tournaments are The Lady of the South, Berea, and the new Gateway Classic at Montgomery Co. was great last year.

The Kentucky Bank Holiday Classic (with Bourbon County and Paris as host) is a nice 16 team tournament.....

The Berea Tourney was one of the ones I used to love, 1) because of the New Seabury Center and 2) because it used to have the best teams, coaches and players. It has died off pretty much in recent years in those aspects. The Lady of the South is excellent too, with usually 3 or 4 of the best teams in the state participating. The Lex Cath. tourney I believe most would agree has the most in top teams, talent and coaching and visibility. The Owensboro tourney is good but a bit cumbersome with all the travel from gym to gym. I used to enjoy days of the Ashland Kitten Inv. but it too has lost it's glamour. It seems another big problem with some of these tournaments is that they are too big. You don't get to see all of the teams because their is so much going on. I've heard coaches complain about that at times and players don't get to enjoy the experience nor do the parents. I was fortunate enough to be able to check out a couple of smaller tournaments this past season and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I saw 2 days of the tournament in Mont. Co. and it was well organized and had an great field, I believe 4 of the 8 teams where in the Sweet 16. You can't ask for nothing better than that and I got to see all the games that I wanted. What a concept. Invite great teams and allow us junkies to get to see them play. Kudos to the folks that put that on.

Are there any more small tournaments to go and see during that time that have good matchups usually? :thumb:

I have heard that the Berea Tourney is a very good tourney and one of the schools I'm familar with had an opportunity to participate a couple of years ago but apparently the schools Principal, Asst Principal and AD pulled the plug before the bus could ever get loaded. Seems they think that fewer and fewer teams are attending these types of tourneys around the state but in reading here on BGPs and on the KHSAA website it appears that as many or more teams are traveling to out of town tourneys as ever. Very unfortunate that some schools don't view this as a great opportunity for their kids and programs to gain exposure around the state.

As far as small tourneys, the Gallatin Steel/North American Stainless is nice. Louisville teams usually come up to Gallatin and Carroll Counties to participate. Ludlow goes to this as well.

Another great tournament for smaller schools is the Villa Madonna Holiday Classic. They have a great hospitality room to boot...

Hey there,

 

I found out today the names of the participating teams in the Mont. Co. tournament next season. I think I got this right, I tried to write them down as I was being told so here it goes:

 

Mont. Co.

Scott Co.

Calloway Co.

Lafayette

Madisonville N. Hopkins

N. Laurel

Pulaski Southwestern

Mercy Prep out of Pennslyvania

 

Pretty good field with Scott Co., Mont. Co., Pulaski (SW) they won the AAU tourney

Another great tournament for smaller schools is the Villa Madonna Holiday Classic. They have a great hospitality room to boot...

Hospitality always a plus with me! Haha!

When my daughter played, they participated in the 5/3 Tournament @ Lex. Cath. and it's probably the best. Also played @ Berea, which I personally liked the best and she also played In the Appleby's Tournament in Danville which was a good holiday tournament. Took a very good Clay Co. team to the wire in a semi-final match-up in Danville, but alas, couldnt pull off the upset.

Does anyone know the field for the Berea Tourney this coming year or the Lady Invitational of the South??

Another great tournament for smaller schools is the Villa Madonna Holiday Classic. They have a great hospitality room to boot...

 

No VMA Tournament this year. They will bring it back next year, but Coach Shields said they got invited to another tournament and will play in that rather than hosting the VMA tourney.

No VMA Tournament this year. They will bring it back next year, but Coach Shields said they got invited to another tournament and will play in that rather than hosting the VMA tourney.

 

Interesting..What tournament have they been invited to play in?