Ask any longtime fan of the ‘Iolani Prep Classic, and you’ll get as many stories as there are threads in a net, or grains of wood on the ash wood floor.
The nation’s premier preseason basketball tournament got started last week with the girls bracket, won by mighty Pinewood of Los Altos Hills, Calif. Today, the boys get untracked with four opening-round games as the 16-team field is introduced.
Defending ‘Iolani Classic and GEICO national champion Montverde (Fla.) is heavily favored, even with the departure of super talent R.J. Barrett. He’s now displaying his skills for Duke, and the majority of the best Eagles also graduated, but they have 7-foot returnee Balsa Koprivica, a Florida State commit, along with a bevy of top-20-level players.
La Lumiere (Ind.), which upset then-No. 6 Oak Hill five years ago, returns as the No. 6 team in the nation, according to USA Today. Isaiah Stewart, a 6-9 forward, is the top-rated player in the Classic.
Sierra Canyon (Calif.) comes in at No. 7.
The event that the late Glenn Young started in 1983 has evolved and continues to be at the pinnacle.
Unbelievable growth
“I definitely feel it has a life of its own. A lot of people look forward to it every year,” said Young’s son, ‘Iolani girls coach Dean Young. “Future NBA players while they’re still in high school. You can see the difference it’s made in our local basketball. Even the girls, I feel like we can compete with any of the teams now. We’re not overwhelmed like we used to be.”
Memories keep the ‘Iolani Classic at the front of every basketball brain. Hoopology in a pristine, comfy, air-conditioned gymnasium, the Mecca of high school basketball in December. The shot that perhaps every ‘Iolani Raiders fan will never forget at the Classic: a buzzer-beating 3-point shot from the right wing by Montrose Christian point guard Taishi Ito in the 2002 Classic quarterfinals.
“We were up by two and he hit that shot to win the game,” said ‘Iolani’s All-State player of the year, Derrick Low. “It would’ve been so cool to win that game with Montrose being ranked so high. For me, I was at the free-throw line, made the first and missed the second, so we should’ve been up by three. You always look back and see what you could’ve done better.”
Low and former teammate Ryan Hirata, best friends as kids, are still besties now.
“Every time someone brings that game up, Ryan always blames me for missing the free throw, and I always blame him because that was his man. That was his first shot all game,” said Low, who went on to star at Washington State before playing pro ball overseas for a decade.
Hirata is now the coach at Mid-Pacific, which opens the tourney against Westchester (Calif.) today at 3:30 p.m. He was a fan of the ‘Iolani Classic long before he played in it. Hirata’s Top 5 players in ‘Iolani Classic history: 1. Kemba Walker, Rice; 2. Joseph Young, Yates; 3. Rajon Rondo, Oak Hill; 4. Aaron Brooks, Franklin; 5. Momo Jones, Oak Hill.
Walker was the co-MVP in ’07. Yates took the title in ’09 with Young as the MVP.
Rondo? His ’03 Oak Hill squad may have been the most talented, and he was the conductor en route to MVP honors. Rondo’s teammate, Josh Smith, was the most outstanding player that year. Low’s favorite players include Smith, Rondo, Brooks and Deshawn Stevenson.
Coach Ron Durant of St. Francis starts his best five players in Classic with Kevin Durant (Montrose Christian), along with Rondo, Tyson Chandler (Fairfax), Dennis Scott (Flint Hill) and Malik Sealy (Tolentine, N.Y.). Durant believes Bobby Hurley of St. Anthony (N.J.) was the best pure shooter.
The best scorer and best pure shooter? Kailua coach Walter Marciel considers Kevin Durant the best scorer in Classic history and Jerry Stackhouse of Oak Hill (’92) the best pure shooter.
Hirata’s best scorer: DeMarcus Cousins of Oak Hill.
Longtime fan and ‘Iolani intermediate coach Rudy Tulonghari gives his nod to Scott as the best pure shooter. Scott, the ’85 MVP, was among the first big names at the Classic, along with West Philadelphia’s Howie Evans.
Local teams score upsets
The best Classic game ever? Hirata — who considers Justin Anderson (Montrose Christian) as the all-time best defender at the tourney and Brandon Peters of Yates as the best dunker — is convinced it was the ’98 final between Oak Hill and Montrose Christian, won by Oak Hill in three overtimes.
The best defender? Anderson was a tall, lanky, tough presence, but Marciel goes with Hurley. Tulonghari rates Tiny Gallon (Oak Hill ’08) as the best defender.
‘Iolani hasn’t been the only local team to sneak up and pull an upset. Two years ago, Kailua stunned Corona Del Sol (Ariz.). Kahuku’s superteam of that season posted big wins, including an upset of Mt. Vernon (N.Y.).
Superfan Johnny Hsin remembers another big upset.
“In ’01, Kalaheo probably had one of the biggest wins for a local school when they beat Dr. Phillips (Fla.), a top team,” he added.
Kalaheo, coached by the late, great Pete Smith and powered by center Ikaika Alama-Francis, placed seventh in the Classic that year. Aside from ‘Iolani, no other team finished as high until Kahuku took third place in ’16. ‘Iolani took fifth and Kailua came in sixth.
The best field ever may have been in ’87.
“That year, the Classic had five USA Today ranked teams and No. 1 Tolentine. I think Malik Sealy was on that team,” Hsin recalled. “No. 2 St. Anthony had Hurley, Terry Dehere and Lorenzen Wright. Dunbar (Md.) had Sam Cassell. Flint Hill had Scott and George Lynch.”
The biggest fan-favorite moment may have been during the ’16 tourney, when a 5-10 Findlay Prep reserve guard named Dillon Glendenning entered a blowout game in the fourth quarter. Coincidentally, it was against the same Kahuku team that later finished third. Glendenning splashed a 3 from 25 feet out, sending the gym into pandemonium. Moments later, he banked in another 3 and the decibel level reached new heights.
“The crowd was feeling me,” Glendenning said after the game. “I felt the hype, so I gave them what they wanted.”
That kind of hoopla doesn’t happen every night or even every year, but it’s always possible when the lights are on at the ‘Iolani Classic.
Wind the clock back to the inaugural ’83 semifinals, and West Philly eliminated Radford 69-30 and St. Bernard (Calif.) ousted Kailua 61-45. Two local teams, public schools, in the Classic final four. West Philly won the title.
“Every game is a great opportunity,” Hirata says of his days as a fan, player and coach in the Classic. “But to play and watch some of the best high school teams in the country is always a special moment that every local player will remember.”
