By Perry Swack
Road Trips. Hotel Rooms. Early Morning Basketball. Memories. For anyone that grew up playing high school basketball, those four things were synonymous with holiday hoops in the month of December. While not every school takes a trip every year, most area high schools often participate in a holiday tournament during the week before Christmas and the week after the holiday. While some teams opt to stay close to home for one event and travel for the second, some teams travel twice, or not at all.
Teams like Bowling Green (Panama City Beach) and Clinton County (Tampa) are opting to spend the week after Christmas in the warmer waters of Florida, while seven schools will head to Tennessee for various tournaments – including Russell County, Cumberland County, Warren East, and Monroe County traveling to Gatlinburg for the holidays. With so many teams heading to so many locations, we keep you in the loop with our best tournaments before and after the Christmas holiday.
King of the Bluegrass – December 19-23 – Fairdale High
Area Teams Competing: Bowling Green & Butler County
A year after Warren Central won the King of the Bluegrass with a dominating performance en route to a state title, Bowling Green enters the 2023 event hoping to make it two in a row for the area. The Purples will face off with Harlan County in the opening round (Wednesday, 12/20 @ 7:30 EST). The Black Bears were ranked in the top 20 by the Courier-Journal in the preseason and are currently 5-0 at the time of this article’s publication. If the Purples win their opening round game, they will face off against Trinity or Butler County. Consequently, should they lose to Harlan County, they will play the loser of Trinity-Butler County. Many of the state’s top teams will compete in the event that wraps up on the 23rd with the finals.
BCBS Holiday Classic – December 21-22 – South Warren High
Area Teams Competing: South Warren, Warren East, & Russellville
Second-year head coach Carlos Quarles and his South Warren basketball program will welcome six schools to Bowling Green for the BCBS Holiday Classic on December 21 and 22. The Spartans will open play at 11:00 AM on the 21st as they take on East Jessamine. Warren East takes on Murray at 12:30 PM and Russellville will face Owensboro simultaneously at the same time. While the bracket and schedule have not been posted yet, it appears that each team will play three games. The other school participating in the event is the 5th Region’s Caverna.
FB & T Classic – December 27-29 – Franklin-Simpson High
Area Teams Competing: Franklin-Simpson and Glasgow
Many area schools will travel longer distances to play in tournaments after the Christmas holiday; however, Franklin-Simpson will provide fans the opportunity to watch basketball closer to home. The Wildcats will play Portland (TN), Daviess County, and Glasgow on three successive nights, with each game tipping off at 6:30 PM. Glasgow will play Daviess County on the 27th and Portland on the 28th before playing Franklin in both teams’ final matchup of 2023.
Southwire Holiday Classic – December 28-30 – Owensboro Sportscenter
Area Teams Competing: Greenwood & Butler County
What is being called the “Independence Bank Classic” on KHSAA’s website is being referred to as the “Southwire Holiday Classic” on the Owensboro Sportscenter’s website. Either way, Greenwood will look to cut its teeth against Breckinridge County at 3:15 PM on the 29th and Muhlenberg County at 8:00 PM on the 30th. As for the Bears of Butler County, they are only scheduled to play in one game in Owensboro – a 12:00 PM matchup with Carlisle County on the 29th. Twelve total teams will play over the weekend at the Sportscenter.
Smoky Mountain Winter Classic – December 27-29 – Gatlinburg, TN
Area Teams Competing: Warren East & Monroe County
Not to be confused with the Smoky Mountain Christmas Classic (December 20-22) that Russell County and Cumberland County will be taking part in, the Smoky Mountain Winter Classic is scheduled to tip off after Christmas in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Kyle Benge’s Warren East Raiders will begin the tournament at 3:30 PM (EST) against Hardin Valley Academy from Knoxville on the 27th of December. Monroe County will play at 1:00 PM (EST) against South Dearborn from Aurora, Indiana. Both the Raiders and Falcons will play three games total while in the Smoky Mountains.
Other schools traveling out of state for holiday tournaments
Bowling Green – Buccaneer Bash Christmas Tournament (Panama City Beach, FL) beginning on December 27
Clinton County – Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational (Wesley Chapel, FL) beginning on December 27
Franklin-Simpson – White House Shootout (White House, TN) beginning on December 21
Russellville – Big M Classic (Cross Plains, TN) beginning on December 28
Todd County Central – Stewart County Christmas Classic (Dover, TN) beginning on December 28
