State Farm Holiday Classic releases pairings

Posted on December 7, 2015

By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – The pairings and brackets for the State Farm Holiday Classic have been released.

The top seeds for the boys brackets are Chicago North Lawndale (Large School) and Rockford Lutheran (Small School), while Morton (Large School) Champaign St. Thomas More (Small School) lead the way for the girls.

University High in Normal drew a number 4 seed in both brackets.

The 64-team tournament includes six teams that are currently undefeated, 17 are state-ranked and have a combined winning percentage of .554 (209-168).

Six teams in this year’s field took home state trophies last season, twice as many as any other holiday tournament in the state (Girls: Morton, Rochester, Kankakee Bishop McNamara, Bloomington Central Catholic. Boys: Rockford Lutheran, Normal Community)

The tournament runs Dec. 28-31 at four Bloomington-Normal venues, Shirk Center, U.S. Cellular Coliseum, Normal Community and Normal West high schools.

Classic President Dan Highland said there are many factors that go into seeding and scheduling, including having both programs from one school playing.

“We try to make sure it works out they aren’t playing at the same time,” Highland said.

Highland added the tournament was scheduled to begin on Monday to avoid holding teams over a holiday weekend.

“It gives us a great opportunity to teams that get here to stay here and not compete with the weather,” Highland said. “When you are running something as large and complex at this, there are so many factors that go into bracketing.”

WJBC will be broadcasting games throughout the tournament.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

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