powerade holiday prep classic

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2000 Reebok. . . Er, Um, "Powerade Holiday Prep Classic"
Starts Today: Dec. 18-21--(Dec. 18. 2000)

What: 2000 Powerade Holiday Prep Classic Where: Las Vegas, NV, Durango & Green Valley HS When: December 18, 19, 20 & 21, 1999 Who: 68 High School Teams From All Over The US 17 SoCal-based High School teams
Holiday Prep Classic Team Profiles Millenium Cup Bracket Gold Cup Bracket Silver Cup Bracket Bronze Cup Bracket	Holiday Prep Classic Schedules Monday, 12/18 Tuesday, 12/19 Wednesday 12/20 Thursday, 12/21

Every year for the past four years we've featured coverage from what used to be the Reebok Las Vegas Holiday Prep Classic. . . this year, we'll only be covering one day of the tournament. . . maybe. And that's because of a confluence of several events: 1. Work (real work), 2. The Rim Rattler Holiday Invitational here in Long Beach, and 3. the ease of obtaining the information without actually being there. . . yes, we know it's really impossible to get the flavor of the games without attending, but hey, what are you all doing reading this for anyway? If you could be there you would, and so would we, but as in life, it's all about choices. . . We may yet decide to make it to Vegas for at least one day, but that all depends on what happens here in Long Beach and if the much awaited Mater Dei v. Oak Hill game actually happens.

This year's Holiday Prep Classic and next year's events almost didn't happen. The fact that it did is largely due to the tireless work of one man, and our thanks (and everyone else's should) go to Larry McKay, who organizes this event (as well as the adidas Las Vegas Big Time Tournament, and several others in Vegas during the year). He really deserves a lot of praise and thanks from everyone who enjoys high school basketball for making this happen. If you're interested, both the Las Vegas Review-Journal has the details of what Larry's been able to accomplish, chiefly by obtaining another sponsor (in case you hadn't noticed, it's no longer the "Reebok Holiday Prep Classic" and the event is now sponsored by Powerade, the sports beverage company. Here's the link to the story about the new sponsorship deal in case you're interested. And there's another similar story about how the tournament seemingly has come back from the dead in the Las Vegas Sun.

We can't say we favor the four bracket formula that the tournament has evolved into, and sort of liked the big free-for-all environment back when the tournament was a 64-team gigantic bracket, but this year, the Millenium Cup is still very strong, and there will be some great teams here, including the two top high school teams in the country: Mater Dei and Oak Hill, who could meet on Thursday in the the finals of the Millenium Cup tournament. If we manage to make it to Vegas to see the games, it will certainly be on Thursday to see that matchup if it happens.

This year, the tournament is again at two facilities in Vegas, Durango and Green Valley High Schools (two years ago, and for all years prior to that, Cimmaron-Memorial and Durango were the venues, and Green Valley adds a little more drive time, so be aware of that when you plan which games you want to see if you'll be going).

There are several ways to get your daily fill of what's happening at the Powerade Holiday Prep Classic:

1. The "Official" Holiday Prep Classic website at this link, (a Rivals.com site);

2. The Las Vegas Review Journal's "Prep Classic 2000" website.

3. The Las Vegas Sun's Prep coverage will also provide stories and details of the games;

4. The NevadaPreps website; and

5. SoCalHoops (no link because you're here already if you are reading this, aren't you?)

Options 2, 3 and 4 will mostly be geared to covering the local Vegas teams participating (and there will be about 20 such teams, giving the entire event a very local flavor). We don't think anyone is going to provide live audio coverage like NevadaPreps did last year, but keep checking there because that may yet happen.

Lastly, if you are just interested in how the California teams are doing, we'll provide the results and (if Domanic Clark decides we continue to be worthy of the faxes) boxscores for the games we can't be at.