SAN DIEGO, CA (KGTV) — Some of the best high school basketball teams and players from across the country are in San Diego this week for The Holiday Classic. The tournament has become a big time tradition in San Diego, as the 33rd addition of the tournament features 76 teams playing in five different divsions.
"They were having a tournament here for about 6 or 7 years before I came to Torrey Pines," says Holiday Classic Director John Olive. "So we have just tried to keep growing it. Back in the beginning it was 16 teams, and now were are close to 80 teams every year."
Olivem who is also the head boys basketball coach at Torrey Pines says he has no problem getting teams to come to America's Finest City. In fact, they have already started putting together the 2024 tournament list.
"We have teams from Washington DC, Ohio, New York, Texas, and all over the west coast. Teams want to challenge themselves. The good teams want to play in national tournaments."
For the players, they look at this tournament as a chance to play against competition they don't normally see.
"This is going to be new for us because we are playing a whole bunch of teams from California, so it will be definite competition," says Cameron Thornton from Lanier High School in Georgia.
"It's good to play unfamiliar teams and help the team grow," says Lawson Holland from Flintridge Prep in Los Angeles.
You will see a lot of good players this week, with close to 30 who have already received college offers. It's also a good be that many future NBA players are playing in this tournament.
"There have been like 80 or so NBA players who have played in this tournament," says Olive.
