10 upcoming Texas boys basketball tournaments to watch

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Tournament season for Texas UIL basketball teams shifts into high gear over the coming five weeks.

Each school can play up to three tournaments (not including regional or state tournament) with the traditional finish line being the end of December because district play occupies everyone's schedule in the 2017 portion of the season.


1. Whataburger Basketball Tournament (Orange Bracket), Dec. 28-30, Thomas Coliseum, Haltom City.
The 59th edition of this holiday event also has a bracket for girls and smaller boys schools. The Orange bracket draws an elite 16-team field. In addition to Arkansas Class 6A state champion Parkview (Little Rock, AR), invitees include defending Class 6A state champion DeSoto, Westlake (Austin), North Crowley, Tascosa (Amarillo), Round Rock McNeil (Austin), Guyer (Denton) and Lakeview Centennial (Garland).

2. Texas Jamboree Showcase, Nov. 25-26, St. Thomas (Houston) and Episcopal (Houston).
Not a tournament in a traditional sense with 12 scheduled games on Friday and 15 on Saturday. Houston-area powers Atascocita (Humble), last year's Class 6A state runner-up, Houston Math Science & Tech (Houston), Fort Bend Bush (Richmond), Davis (Houston), Ozen (Beaumont) will be joined by the 2015 Class 5A state champion Lancaster.

3. Dallas ISD Holiday Invitational, Dec. 28-30, Ellis Davis Fieldhouse, Dallas (main site).
The 77th edition draws a 32-team field that includes two teams from Australia and an Arkansas invader, Fayetteville. In addition to Dallas ISD powers Skyline, South Oak Cliff and Kimball, the field includes defending Class 5A state champion Lancaster, South Grand Prairie and Duncanville.

4. Thanksgiving Hoopfest, Nov. 25-26, Duncanville's Sandra Meadows Arena
Not a tournament in the classic sense, but 17 scheduled games. National power Findlay Prep (Henderson, NV) along with Oklahoma entrants Norman North (Norman OK) and Putnam City West (Oklahoma City, OK) will face some of the elite Texas teams including Westlake (Austin), Steele (Cibolo), North Crowley (Crowley) and Cedar Hill. 5. Fort Bend ISD Basketball Tournament, Dec. 8-10, three sites with Sugar Land's Wheeler Field House being the main site.
The 24 entrants begin in three-team pool play before advancing to eight-team bracket play on the final day. Teams to watch are Houston Math Science & Tech, Spring Westfield (Houston), Fort Bend Bush (Richmond) and Fort Bend Marshall (Missouri City).

6. South San Antonio Varsity Tournament, Dec. 1-3, San Antonio.
The 32-team field draws not only San Antonio-area powers such as Wagner (San Antonio) and Clemens (Schertz), but also Killeen, Coppell and Bowie (El Paso).

7. In-N-Out Burger Allen Christmas Tournament, Dec. 27-29, Allen.
The 16-team field includes Steele (Cibolo), Dawson (Pearland), Highland Park (Dallas), McKinney North (McKinney), Fort Bend Travis (Richmond) as well as the host school.

8. Arlington Classic, Dec. 1-3, four Arlington high school sites.
DeSoto is back to defend its 2015 title along with runner-up Seguin (Arlington) and 15 other challengers including Rockwall-Heath, Dunbar (Fort Worth), Waxahachie, South Oak Cliff (Dallas) and Midlothian.

9. Pflugerville Panther Holiday Classic, Dec. 8-10, Pflugerville.
After two days of pool play, the eight-team field goes into bracket action on the final day. Likely contenders for the title include Steele (Cibolo), Ellison (Killeen) and Midway (Waco).

10. Houston ISD Boys Basketball Tournament, Dec. 15-17, Houston.
This will be the 77th edition of the event, making it one of the oldest and largest with a typical field of 24 teams playing at six sites. It is a showcase for Houston ISD basketball. Houston Math, Science & Tech took the title last year.