pacshores announcment

What:	49th Annual Pacific Shores Tournament
When:	November 27th-December 2th
Where:	Redondo Union HS, Redondo Beach
Who:	16 Teams from Among the Best in SoCal

Redondo Union (this time going it alone, without former co-host Mira Costa) will host 49th Annual Pacific Shores Boys Basketabll Tournament. We spoke with Coach Jim Nielsen at Redondo Union this afternoon, and he's excited about this year's tournament. Really excited. And from what we know about the teams coming, this year's field will make it one of the top tournaments in the State. In fact Jim Nielsen, Redondo Union head coach believes it could be one of the best tournaments in the country given all of the talented players and teams participating, and he could just be right about that. This year's field, like prior Pac Shores Tournaments, will not field teams from out of state, but who needs them anyway. There's enough talent here to take on any of the teams in the Slam Dunk To The Beach, or the City of Palms, or the Oregon Hoops Classic, or any of the brackets at the Las Vegas Holiday Prep Classic. . .

Redondo Union HS, Redondo Beach, CA
Bishop Montgomery HS, Torrance, CA
Valencia HS, Valencia, CA
South Torrance HS, Torrance, CA
Long Beach Poly HS, Long Beach, CA
Leuzinger HS, Lawndale, CA
Junipero Serra HS, Gardena, CA
LAUSD Gardena HS, Gardena, CA

LAUSD Westchester HS, Los Angeles, CA
LAUSD Fairfax HS, Los Angeles, CA
North Torrance HS, Torrance, CA
Morningside HS, Inglewood, CA
Long Beach Jordan HS, Long Beach, CA
Hawthorne HS, Hawthorne, CA
Compton HS, Compton, CA
LAUSD Palisades HS, Los Angeles, CA

The field this year includes three defending CIF Southern Section Champions: Long Beach Poly, Bishop Montgomery, and Serra. City powerhouses LA Fairfax and Westchster, as well as an incredibly strong Pali program will also be there, as will defending league champions, host Redondo Union and Leuzinger. Eight of the sixteen teams are likely to be ranked high in various state polls in the preseason, and the players participating include some of the best and most athletic in SoCal.

This year's players include pre-season All-Americans Dijon Thompson (Redondo) who has committed to UCLA, Errick and Derrick Craven (Bishop Montgomery) who have committed to USC, Westchester's Chad Bell (committed to New Mexico), DeVaughan Peace (Bishop Montgomery) who has committed to UCI, Rasheed Oliver and James Matthews (Palisades), Craig Smith (Fairfax) and some of the best underclassmen in the state, including top national-level players like Adam Zahn (Redondo Union), Brandon Heath, Ashanti Cook, and Hassan Adams (Westchester), Evan Burns, Kevin Bell, (Fairfax), Derrick Clark (Leuzinger), Carlos Rivers (Long Beach Poly), and too many others to list.

The tournament is in it's 49th year, and it has attracted top players from all over, including a ton of NBA players: Paul Pierce (Celtics), Elden Campbell (Lakers, Hornets), Harold Minor (USC, Cavs), Eric Leckner (Jazz), Byron Scott (Lakers, Kings), Reggie Theus (Bulls), Paul Westphal (Sonics Head Coach). There have also been some recent players who are now or have recently played at the D-I level, and as you can well imagine, for a tournamnent that has been around for one year shy of 50, this thing has had it's share of D-I players, including most recently guys like Andrew Zahn (Arizona), Joe Shipp (Cal), Jason Kapono (UCLA), Stais Boseman (USC), Shane Willis (Utah), David Aaron (Santa Clara), Chris Sanele (ASU), and on and on.

Last year's event drew more than 2,500 spectators to the semifinals, and this year could We don't have the complete bracketing or the schedule, but we anticipate that Jim Neilsen or Don Turner (this year's co-directors of the tournament) will be sending us brackets soon. We've been asked by Coach Nielsen though to pass along the following message:

In other words, besides just attending these events, sponsorship opportunities are available and would be greatly appreciated. And if you just want to come out and see some great hoops, then do that too.

For further information about the tournament, or for information about sponsorships, contact Don Turner at (310) 379-3330 or coach Nielsen at (310) 798-8665, ext 2047.

All the games this year will be at Redondo Union, which is located at 631 Vincent Park, in Redondo Beach.