It’s been quite some time since Brad Reinhart and his Midwest Players Classic staff could sit down and put together the kind of basketball showcase they desired.
The goal since the concept was unveiled for the first time in 2011 was to find the best available teams from not only Wisconsin but neighboring states like Minnesota and Iowa.
The MPC at the La Crosse Center was always a way to match up two prolific teams just to see what would happen. The challenge was the reward as future NBA players spent a full day taking their turns to entertain the thousands in attendance.
This is where Matt Thomas, Bronson Koenig, Diamond Stone, Marcus Paige, Rashad Vaughn and Henry Ellenson provided early star power.
It’s where Maple Grove’s Brad Davison lit up Milwaukee Riverside for 39 points, and Sam Hauser went for 35 in Stevens Point’s win over Champlin Park the same day in 2016.
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It’s also where Johnny Davis, Jalen Suggs and Chet Holmgren carried the flag into a new decade while all playing on the court together when Minnehaha Academy (Minn.) beat Central 59-55 in 2019.
Every one of those players continued to either high-level Division I college competition or the NBA — or both.
But 2020 and 2021 weren’t quite the same. A snowstorm cut the 2020 installment to a game between Aquinas and West Salem — it did go double overtime — and the COVID-19 pandemic closed door to competitors at the state line last year.
The games were both competitive and fun, but Reinhart’s expanded offering this season promises to put the Midwest Players Classic not only back on track but on a new path for the future.
“It was my own stubbornness,” Reinhart, the Aquinas High School boys basketball coach, said of adding games Friday night instead of playing just one full day on Saturday. “If we’re going to have it snowed out one year and impacted by COVID(-19) the next, let’s come back better than ever.
“We’ve always had access to the Center on Fridays for shootarounds and whatever, so let’s turn that time into basketball games and bring in some good teams.”
Not every team Reinhart secured will play this weekend. The lineup has been a fluid one with COVID-19 again an issue. But the event features 12 games — 11 for boys teams and one for girls — with three of them played Friday night and the other nine consecutively after a 9 a.m. start Saturday.
Teams from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa will compete in the third event in as many weeks that brought in competitors from multiple stages and was housed in the La Crosse Center.
The Bi-State Classic took place Dec. 29-30, and that was followed by The Clash on Jan. 7-8. Those were wrestling events that included 70- and 32-team fields. The Midwest Players Classic will have 19 teams play at least once.
The event is especially important for Aquinas, which has been the host institution since it began. Volunteers will be found all over the building and all around the court to keep things moving smoothly.
“I’m really excited for this weekend,” said Aquinas senior guard Quinn Miskowski, who scored 32 points as the Blugolds beat Westby 71-49 on Tuesday. “We get to play two games, and there is a lot of good basketball to watch.
“(The second day) will just add to it, I think.”
Miskowski said it isn’t all spectator time when the Blugolds don’t compete. Players help make sure teams have what they need out for games, make sure the court is swept and whatever else Reinhart deems necessary.
The lineup has probably been the toughest aspect of the event for Reinhart, but a pandemic will find ways to get involved.
Reinhart has spent plenty of time hunting down replacement teams for those that had to change their plans over the past couple of months, and the frequency has sped up with the national rise in COVID-19 issues.
The latest local school to get involved is Holmen, which stepped in to play La Crescent-Hokah in Saturday’s final game at 9 p.m. West Salem was supposed to play the Lancers in a battle between unbeaten teams, but moved up on the schedule to play Division 1 Eau Claire Memorial when a team from Omaha, Neb., dropped out days ago.
“I’m just excited that we are holding the pieces together right now,” Reinhart said. “We’ve had teams drop out, and we’ve been able to find teams to fill, so that’s been great.
“The Center is ready to host us, the place is beautiful (after recent renovations), we have no restrictions on fans, so we will get a two-day version of what people have come to expect from our event, which is excellent basketball, excellent individual talent, awesome teams and great environment for high school hoops.”