SoCalHoops Tournament News

Academy National Invitational Features
Westchester & Oak Hill As Top Seeds--(Dec. 25, 2001)

	What:	Academy National Invitational
	Where:	Campbell Center in Houston, TX,
	When:	December 26th-29th
	Who:	8 of the Top US Nike-sponsored HS Teams

Oak Hill and Westchester, the consensus No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the country, have a chance to meet in this brand new tournamnent, organized by Hal Pastner, who runs Houston's "CBL" or Competitive Basketball League, which is closely affiliated with Nike, the event's lead sponsor.  In fact, the rumors about how this event got off the ground with Nike's backing, have led to claims by other national tournament organizers and directors that Nike strong-armed its top sponsored teams into appearing, forcing some to back out of other commitments to play at other more well-established tournaments at the risk of losing their sponsorship.  Whether there's any truth to these stories or not, this first year event will assemble eight of the nation's most talented teams in a single venue, including the No.1 consensus ranked team in the U.S., Westchester, and Oak Hill, from Mouth of Wilson, VA. 

The tournanment will also feature live internet broadcasts from Broadcastmonsters.com, so you'll be able to listen to the games as well.

Westchester's first round game (Thursday, December 27 @ 2:30 p.m. CST) will see the Comets matched up against Male HS from Kentucky.  Depending on the results of that game, Westchester will play the winner or loser of  the game between Beaumont Ozen (TX) v. Rice (NY).  If they win, the Comets will move on to the Championship game, where they will likely matchup against Oak Hill Academy from Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, which won the Les Schwab Oregon Invitational this past Saturday.  

The Academy National Invitational is really two tournaments in one: The "National Tournament" (schedule below) and an entirely separate "Texas Tournament" featuring some of the top teams in the state (all sponsored by Nike).  None of the Texas teams (other than Beaumont Ozen) are in the National Tournament.  If you're interested in the Texas competition, check out the bracket at the official tournament website.

Here's the schedule for the National Tournament:

Game results, stats, and highlights will be available daily at the official tournament website.

 
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