Wooden Classic:Prep Teams to Play-- (10/21/97)

It's never too early to remind everyone about one of the great early December college exhibition tournaments, which will be even better this year with the addition of some great high school competion in addition to the return of traditional favorite UCLA, which was absent last year. This year the Wooden Classic will expand to include high school competion featuring Mater Dei, a perennial powerhouse, and Los Alamitos, each of which will compete in a high school tripleheader as part of the formerly all-college event.

The John Wooden Classic this year, as always, will be played at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim. The high school games will be played starting on December 4. The college games are scheduled for December 6.

The addition of high school teams this year is significant because it will also feature DeMatha High School of Hyattsville, Md. as one of the participating teams. De Matha is one the premier high school basketball programs in the country, consistently winning since the late 1950's. DeMatha's coach and nationally recognized author and teacher Morgan Wooten holds the national record for the most victories by a high school basketball coach, at 1,097 wins. He has been coaching at DeMatha for 41 years.

In addition to Los Alamitos, Mater Dei, and DeMatha, Ayala of Chino Hills, Crespi of Encino, and Glendora High will be featured.

The tentative schedule has Los Alamitos (23-4) vs. DeMatha; Mater Dei (32-3) vs. Crespi (9-16); and Glendora (26-3) vs Ayala (24-5).

The Wooden Classic's High School Invitational is one of two high school basketball events in Orange County this upcoming season that will be of national importance. The other tournament is the Nike Extravaganza, scheduled for February 7, 1998. More details on that to follow soon. Contact the Pond or check out the Wooden Classic web site for more information on tickets, pricing and availability (although when we checked this site today, it didn't have this year's information. . .so it seems it hasn't been updated in a while. Still, though, the phone numbers are the same, so give them a call if you need further info).

As always, The Wooden Classic college doubleheader on Dec. 6 will feature strong west coast contenders. This year Stanford will face Georgia, and UCLA, making its return to the Classic, will play New Mexico.

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