4 days until the MaxPreps Holiday Classic: 4 gifts to look forward to

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — It's four days until the MaxPreps Holiday Classic and simply, here are four things I'm most looking forward to following four holiday seasons in Palm Springs.

Rancho Mirage High School will serve as the primary host for the four-day tournament (Dec. 26-30), but games will be played in seven venues around beautiful Coachella Valley.

1. The stars
OK, I'm not immune to star gazing. And the array of basketball talent arriving at the 13th annual event, which features 117 teams and 11 divisions, is as good as it's ever been. They include headliners Malik Monk, of Bentonville (Ark.), and the Ball brothers of Chino Hills (Calif.) — Lonzo, LiAngelo, LaMelo (don't forget cousin Andre, too), and perhaps the best freshman in the country, Harvard-Westlake's (Studio City, Calif.) Cassius Stanley (named after Cassius Clay?), and two or three dozen others to gaze and marvel over.

2. The celebrities
If it's not the sight of famous college coaches like Sean Miller of Arizona or John Calipari of Kentucky (where Monk has signed) or Steve Alford of UCLA (where the Ball brothers have committed), then it's the famous parents of players like Kenny "The Jet" Smith and Dave Winfield and Mitch Kupchak from year's past. There's good reason to believe Shaquille O'Neal will be on hand to watch his sophomore son Shareef O'Neal of Windward (Los Angeles, Calif.) sometime over the four-day tournament that goes from Dec. 26-30. 

3. The impassioned coaches
Especially the gents who chaperoned their teams from halfway across the country like Jim Gosz, of King (Milwaukee, Wis.) — a hard-driving basketball junkie — or Chris Lovell, of Prestonwood Christian (Plano, Texas), and Daniel Maehlman, of Jonesboro (Ga.), or Chris Blackwell, of St. Petersburg (Fla.), who wiped out their winter breaks to oversee their second kids thousands miles away from home. I love talking hoops with these "all-in" coaches, furthering the point that basketball is such a universally loved game, dominating by teams, coaches and personnel who share a deep-rooted passion.

4. The true All-Tournament performers
None of this star-studded event could take place without the monumental selfless efforts from the hundreds of volunteers and worker bees from co-tournament directors Rob Hanmer and Wayne Merino on down. Ticket takers, concession makers and workers, maintenance personnel, scorekeepers, host families, referees, medical staff, janitorial services, sponsors, transportation supervisors, security — the contributors are never ending. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes an army to run a 117-team basketball tournament. So many moving parts, so many gracious and giving people at a trying, even stressful time of year. Yet the spirit of these kindly folks reinforces the fiber of the season. Not the basketball campaign, but the classic holiday season the tournament's namesake stands for.

These are, in reverse order, the four things I covet most when I travel to embrace the MaxPreps Holiday Classic.

Here's is more general material fans should know. This is the 16-team Open Division that features some of the top teams in the country.

See MPHC Open Division bracket

Here is a capsule look at the four teams from the bracket that are defending state champions.

Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) — The Gaels enter 7-2 following a 58-56 loss to Overland (Aurora, Colo.) (7-0) at the Tarkanian Classic and 76-74 to Corona del Sol (Tempe, Ariz.). Gorman is led by 6-5 junior Chuck O'Bannon Jr, son of former UCLA great Charles O'Bannion., and 6-10 senior Zach Collins, ranked the 64th best senior in the country by 247Sports. O'Bannon is the No. 37 junior. Last year, Gorman went 30-3 and won its second straight and fourth state title in six years. Gorman opens with Capital Christian (Sacramento, Calif.), another state finalist from last season. Gorman beat Capital Christian 83-39 at the Wild West Shootout in Reno (Nev.) last season. 

Jonesboro (Ga.) — The Cardinals have won back-to-back Georgia 4A state titles and last year finished No. 9 nationally. The Cardinals are led by the reigning MaxPreps National Sophomore of the Year M.J. Walker. Jonesboro averaged 74 points per game — twice hitting triple digits — and were led by Walker, Jr. (17.3 points per game) along with a pair of seniors Tracy Hector Jr. (12.7 ppg) and Deantre Mack (10.9). The Cardinals and Walker are currently 7-2, but winners of seven straight after losing the first two games to powers Norcross (70-65) and Wesleyan Christian Academy (52-51) at the Atlanta Hardwood Jam Fest. Those two squads opened the season a combined 16-2. Walker had 36 against Norcross. Jonesboro opens with Windward (Los Angeles).

Prestonwood Christian (Plano, Texas) — The Lions are the high school home of Los Angeles Laker Julius Randle. Presetonwood won its fourth Texas private school title in the last six seasons in 2014-15. The Lions feature 6-foot-11 center Schnider Herard, a native of Haiti regarded as a Top 100 prospect by 247Sports.The Lions (15-4) have already played 19 games and open the MPHC with De La Salle (Concord, Calif.), which won this tournament in 2006.

See MPHC site for all teams, brackets, stories

Bountiful (Bountiful, Utah) — The Braves went 22-6 last season and won the Utah 4A state title with a 66-54 win over Kearns. Four seniors led that team, but they return 6-2 senior Austin Parkinson, who averaged 8.6 points per game last year and is a three-sport standout. The team's current 17-man roster features six seniors, six juniors, four sophomores and 6-2 freshman Brig Willard. Ryan Pollard is a 7-foot junior. The Braves open with Mercer Island (Wash.).