After 10 years, the Chick-fil-A Classic basketball tournament, being played this week at Richland Northeast High, has become just what its founders intended — one of the nation’s premier high school boys basketball tournaments.
The Classic, which raises money for scholarships provided to area students by the Greater Columbia Educational Advancement Foundation, has been rated the No. 3 tournament in the nation by maxpreps.com, with seven teams that were preseason nationally ranked and 13 of ESPN’s top 80 seniors.
“It’s just awesome to be able to say that, and to have so many strong teams and top players that want to be a part of this,” tournament director Gary Fulmer said.
This year’s tournament headliner is Oak Hill Academy, the Virginia program that produced NBA players including Carmelo Anthony, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Durant and Ty Lawson. With the Warriors this year are Division 1 signees Quinn Cooke, Daniel Gomis and Keith Hornsby.
“With so many tournaments in the country this time of year, they have a lot of places they could have gone, and we are proud that they chose to be here in our tournament,” Fulmer said.
And so are the local teams selected to compete against the national talent.
“It’s a great tournament and it helps us to meet our goals,” said Lower Richland coach Ezekiel Washington, whose team is playing in the Classic II bracket.
“We know that we have to play the best to be the best, and this tournament allows us to do that, and we are glad that coach (Fulmer) keeps inviting us to come and putting us in,” Washington said.
Ridge View coach John Combs said, “This is just an excellent opportunity.”
“This is a tournament where if you win, your reward is you get to play a great team, and if you lose, you get to play another great team,” he said. The Blazers will play in the Classic II bracket.
Also, this year, in honor of its 10th anniversary, Classic organizers added the Carolina Challenge Showcase to feature eight additional teams — including Hammond, Lexington and Cardinal Newman. The Showcase concludes today with Lexington facing Arlington Country Day and Hammond versus Body of Christ.
The Chick-fil-A Classic II and Classic I championship games are scheduled for Thursday at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.
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