1st Annual HoopTownGTA TOP 10 Tournament

I know what you were thinking when you clicked on this topic, but no it is not official. I would like to call out HoopTownGTA and challenge them. This is a great idea and it's not like it was suggested in the middle of the high school season. I can say i speak for every one as part of a team in the top 10 i don't understand why we fight all year trying to stay in the Top 10 list all year, for what?. If there was a Tournament where only the Top 10-16 teams face off, it would be a dawg fight everyday in the season and a lot more people login on to this great site.

PLEASE WRITE YOUR OPINION ON THIS IDEA......PARTICULARLY HOOPTOWNGTA AND ALL THE COACHES(COACHBOB)

The idea sounds good on paper and I've spoken to various coaches in the GTA over the years to get their opinions, however, after to speaking to the coaches, there are a few road blocks.

1. When is the right time to have the tournament?

Pre-season is an option, maybe in November, however the problem we face is that a lot of the schools have problems getting gym space to practice due to girls basketball & guys volleyball. Also, there are a lot of basketball players that play football, so a lot of teams don't get to practice as a full team until December.

December would be a good time, however, there are a number of well organized established tournaments that exist already.

January is tough because of exams and the semister change over.

February is tough because teams are preparing for their league playoffs and don't want to risk injury heading into playoffs.

2. Constant change in the Super 16.
The deeper you go into the season, the more changes you have in the Super 16. To get the "right" 16 teams to participate in a tournament would mean that the coaches would get very very short noticed of their invitation. Teams usually like to schedule all their tournaments at the beginning of the season, and it would be hard to confirm teams at the beginning of season due to the constant change in the Super 16.


I'm sure there are a few other road blocks that I've missed, and if I think of them I'll edit the post later on.

What I am interested in doing is having a tournament similar to the old "Star Wars", where regional teams play each other. However, I would do it where each league in the GTA (Durham, Toronto East, Toronto North, Toronto South, Toronto West, York, TDCAA, Peel, Halton), would put a team in, probably have two pools, and we battle it out for the top league in the GTA. I'm going to try and get this done this year, so if any coaches would like to help out, please contact me.

Posting a misleading title for this thread, does nothing to help your cause.

Why put Hooptown's name on something they have not agreed to?

This is more likely to alienate people than to enlist them to your cause!

HooptownGta, your tournament about each region, isn't that a early version of ofsaa though?

EYE OF THE TIGER should have called his tournament the Eye of a Tiger Invitational.

[quote="justballin"]HooptownGta, your tournament about each region, isn't that a early version of ofsaa though?[/quote]


No, it's not an early version of ofsaa. OFSAA has school teams, this would be teams made up of league all-stars.

Each league would enter an "all-star team" that is made up of the players from the different schools in their own leagues. And then for example; you would have the Durham All-stars vs. the TDCAA All-stars or the Peel All-stars vs. the Toronto South All-stars. So you will have the best players from each league representing their own league, and the end result will be to see who has the best league.

Obviously what Hooptown GTA is proposing is an all star format.

The old Star Wars Tournament took place after OFSSAA.

Who would assemble the all-star teams?
Would Hooptown make the Teams?

I do not think that would be possible.

In the Star Wars format, each region had a coaching staff sometimes more than one school. Usually a veteran type coach would be the Head Coach.

The coaches ran a try-out with all schools invited to send a number of players.

[quote="HooptownGTA"]What I am interested in doing is having a tournament similar to the old "Star Wars", where regional teams play each other. However, I would do it where each league in the GTA (Durham, Toronto East, Toronto North, Toronto South, Toronto West, York, TDCAA, Peel, Halton), would put a team in, probably have two pools, and we battle it out for the top league in the GTA. I'm going to try and get this done this year, so if any coaches would like to help out, please contact me.[/quote]

I like the idea but I think that the TDSB would no longer deserve four separate teams in such an event. There was a time when the region had so many dominant teams that it would make sense but a lot of strength has slowly shifted to the suburban regions and I think that perhaps two TDSB teams would make more sense these days. Perhaps an 8 team tournament with Halton, Peel, York, Durham, Toronto East (I mean eastern half of the city, not the east division of the TDSB), Toronto West (same explanation), Toronto Catholic, and either a CISAA team or, if you really wanted to make it an outstanding showcase, a Hamilton team. They might not be the GTA but the two regions have strong basketball connections.

I like the Star Wars idea. I know from talking to kids in York Region from the various teams, that there is interest here in assembling an All-Star squad and taking on some of the other regions. I've been asked to try and get something organized in the past but without interest from at least another three regions in the GTA, it would be hard to find coaches and players to committ.