Let's fix a tournament!
Some critical comments about the Treasure Coast Holiday Classic Tournament.

Something has to be said for the ability to run a 32 team tournament in St. Lucie County. First off, without a doubt there are more than enough gyms for the tournament. Scheduling 4 gyms and making sure that boys and girls and host schools play where they want makes for a pretty long day of driving around St. Lucie County to catch the games. Ft. Pierce Central hosted one boys' third place matchup (at 1:30) while Port St. Lucie hosted the other (at 3:00). You add in travel time and not only have you missed one consolation game but you are missing half of the day's games. Indian River Community College has a nice facility and features the championship games. Oh yeah, John Carroll hosted games as well.

Actually, you can't watch all the games in the boy's bracket! What's the point in not being able to watch all the games? I had to read the newspaper (praying they had the correct information) and plan my day travelling from Ft. Pierce Central, then Port St. Lucie, and back to Indian River Community College just to see 3 games. I put more mileage in St. Lucie County for one tournament than I did for two tournaments in Ocala, Kingdom of the Sun and the Don Kelso/Closetmaid Lady Cat Holiday Classic.

Why not do something about this? Every other 16 tournament in the state can use a single gym. So, why use 4 gyms? Yeah, throw in the 16 team girl's tournament and you are talking about 32 teams. However, you still only need 2 gyms! Tom Colucci and the Treasure Coast Sports Commission talks a good game. However, you guys need to fix this!

It would be nice to see the current format changed. First, the heck with this 2 division 8-team format. Let's have one champion! Winners bracket and consolation bracket. Not only would you get the opportunity to increase the amount of games but improve the competition as well. It adds a day to the tournament and you get a chance to increase exposure for the athletes. It means another night of hotel stay for the out-of-state teams (away from the cold wherever they are from) and more money spent in the community, which is what the Treasure Coast Sports Commission is supposed to be all about.

Concessions and attendance would have to go up. There would only be a single location for each of the boys and girls divisions. What more could you ask for? Here is a simple solution, use Indian River Community College entirely for the boys division. The location is great, it's neutral to the local high schools, the gym has character, and there is plenty of seating. Actually, St. Lucie West Centennial has the best high school facility in St. Lucie county. Why not use it for the girl's side? Or, vice-versa?

My vote is that the format be changed. However, in two years Tom Colucci won't even return a simple email. I'm only the founder of PowerBasketball and Florida Hoops. So, obviously my vote doesn't mean much. All you local guys, voice your opinion. If you have the same feelings about the tournament as me, drop Tom Colucci an email. I'm sure he can ignore your email as easily as mine.