The most interesting part of this comprehensive story on Rivals.com previewing the Tiger Classic is how Wheaton Warrenville South coach Bill Schreier keeps seeking out the best teams.
To keep the competition at a high level, teams are put on a waiting list and as openings occur, the tournament director fills from the list. If teams are not competitive they are not asked back.
The article also explains how the seeding for the pool play is determined.
"Teams are ranked by all of the head coaches of the teams in the tourney through email, " Schreier adds, "Each coach sends me a profile of their team including returning starters, last season's record, club players, and expectation of seed for the tournament. I then compile these and send them back out to every coach with a seeding sheet. They send their individual seeding sheet back to me and then we set up pools based on the results."
So when Sun-Times No. 2 Naperville Central faces No. 7 Marist tonight in pool play, the email vote from a majority of the coaches says they think Marist is the better team. Or thought that when they voted at least. That was before Central won the Hoffman Estates Invite to start the season 6-0.
Now Marist hasn't exactly done anything to prove that vote inacurate. Marist was the runner up of its own tourney on Saturday, losing in the final to Sun-Times No. 1 Providence.
Waubonsie Valley heads into the Tiger Classic with the momentum of winning its conference opener on Tuesday night. It will face Sun-Times No. 6 Glenbrook North in its first pool match at 5 p.m.
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