What to look for on opening night of the 2023 Bass Pro Tournament of Champions
The 2023 Bass Pro Tournament of Champions is here with four games tipping off at Great Southern Bank on Thursday starting at 4:30 p.m.
Thursday night features a pair of games with the potential of being thrillers while the other two will give two of the best teams in the nation a chance to showcase their skills in front of a Great Southern Bank Arena crowd.
Here's what we're looking forward to on Thursday night:
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4:30 p.m. — Christ the King (New York) vs. Bartlett (Tennessee)
The opening game of the tournament features a program that played in the first edition of the event and a team that has never played on the stage before.
Christ the King will take on a Bartlett team that is regarded as one of the top public schools in the country. Bartlett has played a national schedule that has included a team like Duncanville (Texas) which is regarded as one of the top teams in the nation right now.
Christ the King has more upper-tier talent than Bartlett, which features a handful of Division I prospects but not at the Power 5 level. There will be a lot of size on the floor with Christ the King having two 6-foot-7 power forwards and a 6-foot-5 wing. Bartlett has 6-foot-10 and a 6-foot-7 power forwards in addition to a 6-foot-5 wing who leads the team in scoring.
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6 p.m. — Link Academy vs. St. Rita (Chicago)
The main event of Thursday night will feature local Link Academy as it goes up against St. Rita out of Chicago. The Lions are the favorite to win the tournament while St. Rita is 8-6 this season and isn't having the season it thought it would have to this point.
Link Academy showed during its appearance at the Ozark Mountain Shootout at Glendale in December that it has some Harlem Globetrotters in it with dunks from the likes of Corey Chest Jr., Aaron Rowe, Cameron Carr and others. Look for Cade Phillips to be one who can throw it down as he'll represent the team in the slam dunk contest this year.
St. Rita has talent that can match up with the Lions with three juniors signed to Power 5 schools including North Carolina, Illinois and Iowa State. They also have a sophomore who should be bound for a top-tier program as a top-60 recruit.
Link Academy is the headliner for this event and it will be out to put on a show every night.
More:What to know about Link Academy before it participates in Tournament of Champions
7:30 p.m. — Sunrise Christian (Kansas) vs. Kickapoo
The biggest challenger to Link Academy in the tournament will be Sunrise Christian as it's another nationally-ranked top-10 team that has a roster full of top recruits. Kickapoo, the SPS power, will have to find a way to lock down a 7-foot-2 center among others.
Sunrise features a pair of top-10 recruits, one a senior and another a sophomore. Other top recruits include a quick top-30 point guard, a 6-foot-6 wing signed to Ohio State and another point guard who stands at 6-foot-4.
Kickapoo? The Chiefs don't have anyone near that level but have one of the best teams in the Ozarks as far as chemistry and effort at both ends of the floor. Brayden Shorter is a 6-foot-5 forward who can be used in different positions with Harrison Doennig being a versatile big underneath. Trae Oetting is a quick point guard who has broken out as one of southwest Missouri's best.
Unless Kickapoo pulls off the biggest upset in Tournament of Champions history, the Chiefs could be looking at a Day 2 consolation semifinal game against Staley for a matchup between the No. 1 and No. 8 teams at the Class 6 level in Missouri.
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9 p.m. — Staley vs. Calvary Christian (Florida)
If there could be an upset on Day 1, you might look here with Staley going up against Calvary Christian — which is regarded as the third-best team in the field.
Staley is the top-ranked team at the Class 6 level in Missouri and it has yet to lose a game this season. The Falcons have a star in Iowa State signee Kayden Fish along with a handful of other low-level Division I recruits. This team is very deserving of being in the field.
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A win over Calvary Christian would be tough. The Eagles have high-level Division I recruits including a point guard, a 6-foot-5 small forward and a 6-foot-10 center. They've won back-to-back state titles in Florida for a reason.
With the first game looking like it can be a toss-up, the nightcap looks like it has the potential to be the best one of the first night.
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: 2023 Tournament of Champions: What to look for on opening night
