Skip to main content
Friday, November 13, 2026Nov 13
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

Best of Preps basketball tournament features most talented field to date

Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 3/18/16. Brainerd's Kentrell Evans (10) sneaks past White Creek's Jonathan Richardson (20) during the Class AA semifinal game being held at the Murphy Center on the campus of MTSU in Murfreesboro, TN, on Friday, March 18, 2016. Brained won over White Creek with a final score of 66-62.
Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 3/18/16. Brainerd's Kentrell Evans (10) sneaks past White Creek's Jonathan Richardson (20) during the Class AA semifinal game being held at the Murphy Center on the campus of MTSU in Murfreesboro, TN, on Friday, March 18, 2016. Brained won over White Creek with a final score of 66-62. Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 3/18/16. Brainerd's Kentrell Evans (10) sneaks past White Creek's Jonathan Richardson (20) during the Class AA semifinal game being held at the Murphy Center on the campus of MTSU in Murfreesboro, TN, on Friday, March 18, 2016. Brained won over White Creek with a final score of 66-62.

By Stephen Hargis 3 min read

photo Brainerd’s Kentrell Evans takes a shot in the game against Christian Academy of Knoxville Thursday, March 17, 2016 at Murphy Center at Middle Tennessee State University.

For area high school basketball fans, Christmas will come a few days early this year.

The annual Times Free Press Best of Preps tournament will be played Dec. 21-23 at Chattanooga State with the toughest, most accomplished field of teams in the history of the event.

Six of the eight boys’ teams won 20-plus games last year, and the girls’ bracket includes three teams that won district or region titles.

“I like that it’s before Christmas this year so everybody can come out to watch the games and then enjoy the holidays with their families,” said Chattanooga State men’s coach and assistant tournament director Jay Price. “This is the best group of teams we’ve ever had in both brackets. As far as the quality of teams and individual players, this will give prep fans in our area a reason to pack the gym every day.”

This will be the fifth straight year the tournament has been held at Chattanooga State, and each of the previous four have had sold out evening sessions.