Home to the National Quilt Museum, Paducah, Ky., now has another claim to fame with the inaugural Mustang Madness high school basketball showcase set to tip Thursday.
Organizers attracted seven teams that have appeared in MaxPreps.com's Xcellent 25 this season, making it the clear headliner of this weekend's hoops slate.
Here's a closer look at Mustang Madness and four other spots we will have an eye on:
Mustang Madness, Thursday-Saturday
Djibril Diallo and No. 8 Our Savior New American will have their hands full at Mustang Madness.
Photo by Nick Koza
With six games involving ranked teams, the first-year event is sure to have a major impact on next week's Xcellent 25. No. 8
Our Savior New American (Centereach, N.Y.) will face
Huntington St. Joseph Prep (W.Va.) on Thursday night in the first big showdown. Friday includes No. 14
Curie (Chicago) vs.
Villa Angela-St. Joseph (Cleveland, Ohio), No. 7
Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.) vs.
Prime Prep (Dallas) and Our Savior New American vs.
Carlisle (Martinsville, Va.). Saturday's lineup includes No. 13
Arsenal Technical (Indianapolis) vs. Villa Angela-St. Joseph and Carlisle vs. Sunrise Christian Academy.
Click here for the complete schedule.
Oak Ridge (Orlando, Fla.) at No. 1 Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), SaturdayStorylines: Good news, bad news for Oak Ridge. The Pioneers get to play on ESPN but unfortunately have to do so against the nation's top team, which has crushed in-state opponents by an average margin of over 25 points per game this season.
Homestead (Mequon, Wis.) at No. 9 Germantown (Wis.), FridayStorylines: Wisconsin's regular season game of the year goes down next Tuesday between Germantown and
Brookfield Central (Brookfield), but the nationally-ranked Warhawks will have to get through unbeaten Homestead first. Germantown own's the longest boys basketball win streak in the United States at 68 games. Homestead is No. 7 in the state of Wisconsin according to MaxPreps.com's computer-generated Freeman Rankings.
Chaminade (West Hills, Calif.) at No. 15 Loyola (Los Angeles), FridayStorylines: Winners of three tournaments during the month of December, Loyola will put its undefeated record on the line against 12-1 Mission League rival Chaminade. The upset-minded Eagles are led by 6-foot-8 senior
Jack Williams and 6-10 sophomore
Trevor Stanback. Word is plane crash survivor
Austin Hatch of Loyola will return to competitive action in this contest.
DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) vs. Bishop O'Connell (Arlington, Va.), ThursdayStorylines: DeMatha hasn't been undefeated at this point in the season and excluded from the national rankings very often in its storied history. O'Connell is out to a so-so 7-5 start overall, but is 5-0 in Washington Catholic Athletic Conference play.
