royal invitational notes

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SoCalHoops Tournament News

Not Going To Vegas? Stay Home For
The Royal Invitational--(Dec. 16, 1999)

As noted in one of our Daily Articles today on the topic of where most of the nation's top teams are headed next week, including the USA Today Top 25 teams, we know that this year the Reebok Holiday Prep Classic in Las Vegas is not the only big event happening on the West Coast this year. This year, at least in SoCal, there are two new kids on the block, one of them in San Luis Obispo (the Rim Rattler Mission Prep Tournament, which starts Monday, December 20) and the other one in Santa Barbara, the "Royal Invitational" at San Marcos High School, which starts this Saturday, December 18.

Both tournaments are certainly smaller than the Reebok Vegas Holiday Prep Classic, but they've also attracted some top national attention and teams, and they both provide an alternative to traveling to Vegas over the weekend. And while Santa Barbara is really best known at this time of year for it's national-level girls tournament, "The Tournament of Champions," (more on that shortly) as Dan Shiells of the Santa Barbara New-Press notes this morning, "it won't be the only event in town this week to feature some of the best basketball players in the nation." Now there's the Royal Invitational.

Here's what the Santa Barbara News-Press had today about the new Royal Invitational at San Marcos High School:

The Royal Invitational, a new, 12-team boys tournament hosted by San Marcos High, has attracted some high profile talent for its inaugural event, including Artesia, the No. 2 ranked team in the nation. The Pioneers, who open play Friday at 8 p.m. against Burroughs of Burbank, feature the twin towers of 6-foot-9 Amaury Fernandez and 6-8 Jack Martinez. Both are juniors and figure to be among the most recruited players in the nation. Coach Wayne Merino believes the frenzy to sign them will match that of previous Artesia stars Ed and Charles O'Bannon and Avondre Jones. "You wouldn't believe how intense the recruiting is already," he told one news service. The lone senior on the team is point guard Andre Hazel, who has already signed with Nevada Reno.

But Artesia won't be the only team with some top prospects. Granite Bay, from the Sacramento area, is led by Thomas Scott, the son of former Los Angeles Laker star Byron Scott. It also opens Friday, at 5 p.m., against Foshay, a magnet school in Los Angeles. Two other top teams open play Saturday, Santa Monica-Crossroads and Phoenix-Thunderbird. Crossroads, though officially a small school, has been among the state's premier programs for several years. A recent graduate is UCLA and Charlotte Hornets star Baron Davis and two current players, 6-10 junior Isaiah Fox and 6-4 senior Felipe Williams, a three-time all-state selection, are considered top prospects. Thunderbird is ranked No. 2 in Arizona. Austin Brooks is the team leader, averaging 22 points, while junior Kyle Feurbach and senior James Moran are among the top-rated guards in the state.

Thunderbird is making the trip to Santa Barbara because it is a "Nike school," which means the shoe company giant supplies it with shoes and other athletic apparel and defers some of its travel costs to tournaments. "They call it their grass roots program and it's been a big help to us," said Thunderbird coach Buddy Rake. "Some of our kids can't afford shoelaces, let alone shoes." Another team to watch is Pacific Hills, which has dominated the Division 5 (small school) level the last few years. San Marcos, of course, and Dos Pueblos are the local influence on the tournament. San Marcos opens Saturday at 6:30 p.m. against the Artesia-Burroughs winner while Dos Pueblos opens Saturday at 3:30 against the Pacific Hills and Community Christian (Modesto) winner.

Crossroads and Thunderbird open at 5 and 8, respectively. All the games are at San Marcos, but that could change as the tournament expands in the future, said Royals assistant coach Will Gonzales. "We got a late start this year but you should see the list of schools who said theire schedule was full this year but were definitely coming next year," he said, naming state powers such as Long Beach Poly and Long Beach Jordan as examples. "Everyone wants to come to Santa Barbara for Christmas." Gonzales said he and head coach Chris Hantgin are hoping to build the tournament into a showcase event featuring highly ranked teams.

And they apparently have the backing of Nike. "Nike called us and said there was a tournament in Santa Barbara that was going to bring in some top ranked teams from the state and region in the next two years, and they asked if we would go this year," said Rake. "That's why we're going." The tournament continues through Tuesday, with no games on Sunday.

San Marcos High School is located at 4750 Hollister Avenue, in Santa Barbara, just off the 101 Freeway at Hollister. We have no idea what ticket prices will be but it should be reasonable.

See you there.