Each year, the HoopHall Classic in Springfield brings the best local and national high school basketball talent in the country into one gym over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.
The tournament, played at Blake Arena on the campus of Springfield College, boasts another strong field of teams and players, with some of Connecticut’s top high school and prep school programs playing, as well as some of the nation’s top talent.
Additionally, a handful of UConn commits and recruits will be on display as well. Here’s everything you need to know about this weekend’s tournament.
Local teams competing
The tournament began on Thursday, with a slate of Massachusetts high schools, and continues into Friday with Massachusetts and national girls programs. Six Connecticut high school and prep teams will be playing this weekend, starting with Windsor, the second ranked team in The Courant’s area poll, on Saturday at noon. The Warriors will face Ramapo High of New Jersey.
East Catholic, the area’s top-ranked team, plays Archbishop Wood of Pennsylvania at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Sunday features a trio of area prep schools, as Putnam Science and St. Thomas More face off at 10:45 a.m., while Woodstock Academy and Northfield Mount Hermon (Mass.) play at 2:15 p.m.
The tournament concludes on Monday, with East Hartford facing Springfield Central in the nightcap at 7 p.m.
UConn connections
The tournament features some of the nation’s top boys and girls high school basketball prospects. The Huskies have a handful of commits and recruits who will be on display.
James Bouknight, who committed to UConn back in September. A four-star recruit, Bouknight and his MacDuffie (Mass.) squad will take on Wilbraham and Monson (Mass.) on Sunday night at 9 p.m. Florida powerhouse Montverde Academy and its five-star forward Precious Achiuwa, a UConn recruit, will take on Sierra Canyon (Calif.) at 3 p.m. on Monday. Woodstock’s Tre Mitchell, who’s been recruited by UConn, will play against Northfield Mount Hermon at 2:15 p.m. Sunday.
On the girls side, Huskies fans can get their first look at UConn’s lone commit for the upcoming season, Aubrey Griffin. Griffin and Ossining High (N.Y.) will take on Springfield Central at 9 p.m. Friday. Mater Dei High (Calif.), the alma mater of UConn senior Katie Lou Samuelson, will play Christ the King (N.Y) on Friday at 7 p.m.
Star power
The HoopHall Classic is known for assembling the country’s top talent in one gym for the weekend. This year is no different, with Oak Hill’s Cole Anthony (No. 3 recruit in the class of 2019), Holy Spirit’s Anthony Edwards (No. 4 recruit in the class of 2019), Federal Way’s Jaden McDaniels (No. 5 recruit in the class of 2019), and Kentucky commit Khalik Whitney of Roselle Catholic will all be in attendance.
Evan Mobley, the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2020 from Rancho Christian (Calif.) will be playing as well.
Last year, Duke’s Zion Williamson, R.J Barrett and Cam Reddish each played at HoopHall. Bol Bol, who know plays at Oregon, did as well. In the past, Anthony Davis, Ben Simmons, Jayson Tatum, Lonzo Ball, Mo Bamba and Andrew Wiggins all played at HoopHall, among other college and NBA stars.
How can I watch?
All games can be viewed on TV or online. The local high school games (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) can be viewed on FloHoops.com, which requires a subscription. A handful of the national prep school games will be televised on ESPN, ESPNU and ESPN+. Those that won’t be on ESPN can be streamed on FloHoops.
A full schedule of the games, and where they can be watched can be found here: http://www.hoophall.com/events/spalding-hoophall-classic/schedule/
