The Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions is annually considered one of the premier high school basketball tournaments in the nation. The 38th installment will begins Thursday and runs through Saturday at the Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield, Mo.
Link Academy (Branson, Mo.) and
Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.) are the headliners in this year's field as each team is ranked inside the National Top 10. A matchup in the final is possible with the teams being on opposing ends of the bracket.
Link Academy (15-0) is ranked No. 1 and is led by senior Baylor commit
Ja'Kobe Walter and junior North Carolina commit
Elliot Cadeau — both five-star recruits. Link will face
St. Rita (Chicago, Ill.) (9-6) Thursday at 6 p.m.
How to watch
When: Thursday, Jan. 12-Saturday, Jan. 14
Where: Great Southern Bank Arena/Springfield, Mo.
The winner of Link Academy-St. Rita will take on the winner of
Bartlett (Tenn.) and
Christ the King (Middle Village, N.Y.), which tips off Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Bartlett (15-5) is ranked No. 5 in Tennessee and Christ the King (6-2) is ranked No. 36 nationally.
On the other side of the 8-team bracket, Sunrise Christian (10-3) takes on
Kickapoo (Springfield, Mo.) (5-2) and
Staley (Kansas City, Mo.) (10-0) battles
Calvary Christian Academy (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) (5-7) in first-round showdowns.
Sunrise Christian is led by five-star seniors
Matas Buzelis (G League) and
Layden Blocker (Arkansas).
Staley and Kickapoo are ranked No. 2 and No. 12 in Missouri, respectively.
Christ the King features sophomore
Kiyan Anthony, son of Carmelo Anthony.
Both semifinal games Friday along with the third-place and championship games Saturday will be streamed on ESPN+.
