Nike TOC girls basketball tournament highlights 9 of the Xcellent 25

Though there are more than a few elite tournaments and holiday-time events, the Nike TOC in Arizona is still the one that draws the most contenders for the national championship.

Consider the Xcellent 25 teams in this year's TOC:

No. 2 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)
No. 6 Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Colo.)
No. 7 Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro, Md.)
No. 8 Long Beach Poly (Calif.)
No. 11 Homewood-Flossmoor (Flossmoor, Ill.)
No. 12 Christ the King (Middle Village, N.Y.)
No. 15 St. Mary's (Stockton, Calif.)
No. 16 St. Anthony's (Melville, N.Y.)
No. 20 Southwest DeKalb (Decatur, Ga.)

And that doesn't include preseason No. 7 Windward (Los Angeles) or preseason No. 15 Saint Mary's (Albany, Calif.), both of which suffered early season upsets.

All that talent in one place will draw hundreds of college coaches to Hamilton High School in Chandler, Ariz., and they will get the rare opportunity to see top players go head-to-head in three-straight ultra-competitive games. Even at the major summer events, seldom do teams play three elite opponents back-to-back-to back, as usually the big name clubs cruise through the first couple rounds.

It will start Thursday at 1 p.m. local time when No. 7 and No. 8 in the nation meet in the first round – and let's repeat that: The No. 7 and No. 8 teams in the country meet in the first round of a tournament, and neither can complain that they should have drawn someone easier.

The 2:30 game is Riverdale Baptist vs. St. Mary's of Stockton, a team no one wants to play because of the Rams' relentless pressing, 3-point bombing and incredible intensity.

At 4 p.m., St. Mary's of Albany draws Christ the King in an intercontinental battle of the kind that highlights almost every Nike TOC, and at 5:30, Mater Dei, with sweet-shooting 6-3 wing Katie Lou Samuelson, will take on extremely talented Homewood-Flossmoor, which already has a big road win over a nationally ranked opponent in (Riverdale (Murfreesboro, Tenn.).

But don't think the talent can all fit in just one eight-team bracket. The Blue Division features Windward, which started the season at No. 7 before getting upset early in the year, No. 16 St. Anthony's, No. 20 Southwest DeKalb and previously No. 25 Etiwanda (Calif.). However, no one would be surprised if a team such as Carondelet (Concord, Calif.) or Sacramento (Calif.) (both from Northern California) or Cleveland (Seattle) or Nazareth (Brooklyn, N.Y.) took home the trophy. And these games, played at Hamilton or Perry High School in Gilbert, will also draw the attention of many college coaches wearing brightly colored apparel with prominently displayed logos.

The Gray Division, also at Perry, has plenty of big-time talent and big-time reputations as well. Oregon City (Ore.) is one of the grand names in girls basketball, and the Pioneers open with Salesian (Richmond, Calif.) of Northern California, which features Louisville-bound Mariya Moore. Dillard (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Archbishop Wood (Warminster, Pa.) is another intriguing first-round matchup, but teams like Shipley (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) or Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) could easily rise to the occasion and win three straight.

But the nature of the Nike TOC is that there are good teams and elite players in every bracket. One of the finest sophomores in the country, Sabrina Ionescu, will play for Miramonte (Orinda, Calif.) in the Mike Desper Division, and 6-2 sophomore post Raychel Stanley from Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) will be in the Red Division.

Those few names, however, are just the tip of the tip of the huge iceberg of talent that comes to the Nike TOC each year, but it's important to remember that here, unlike many summer events, it's about team more than talent. Winning the Joe Smith Division, and putting yourself in contention for a national title, is obviously the big dream. But winning any bracket in Arizona is an achievement to be proud of – and something to build a very successful season around.