Should they expand the Pizza Hut Invitational Basketball Tournament?

There have been mixed feelings on this topic and some feel the current format for the tournament, with the 8 boys and girls schools is just fine for now and others would like to see all of the Guilford County schools/teams get in here……

If they were to change the current format/formula it would take some doing and multiple-year tournament chairman Donald Moore Sr. likes the idea of adding more local teams…..

Several of the coaches in this year’s tournament said they feel the eight-team layout is perfect and that expansion should not be considered…..Why mess with something that is working so good now, is the idea many of the coaches share….

Tournament media spokesman Rob Goodman said last night, that the committee will look at different options for the tournament each year and this event is by invitation only and that gives the Greensboro Sports Council some flexibility, on who will and will not be in the Pizza Hut Invitational…..Rob Goodman also said that expansion could be considered, but you have to consider that fact that the teams in the tournament, would receive considerbly less money for their athletic programs, if more teams are added….

The piece of the financial pie becomes smaller with more teams involved, since you have to split the money up, in more and more directions….The eight-way split, with the eight-school format has worked very well in recent years, with each school receiving right at $10,000 for their athletic department’s funding…..The ten grand goes a long way, in helping the schools to outfit and pay their teams’ freight, during the school year……

To expand or not to expand, that is always one of the big questions at the end of each year’s tournament and it is on the docket here again, at the end of 2011…..

If you bring in all of the county’s 15 schools and keep Greensboro Day School in, to give you an even 16 schools(32 teams with boys and girls), then you have to go to work and sell more tickets and add more sponsors…..The Greensboro Sports Council is hitting the streets hard each year and their tournament sponsorship sales are very good, but with 16 schools/32 teams, they will have to pretty much double what they are doing now in sales…..Raise ticket prices, add an extra day to the tournament, raise other rates…..Expansion is a very wild animal, but it is being looked at and they do review this concept, at the end of each year’s event…..

More schools means more money, but do the schools still get the money that they have become accustomed to receiving, once all the bills have been paid and the profit sharing has been completed…..

To expand or not to expand??? That is always still the year-to-year question…….Is it time, or should the format of the Pizza Hut Invitational Basketball Tournament stay the same……Ten years from now, this will still be a very large question/pizza…………..

Here’s one idea from one of our readers from earlier today:
Here is an idea that would make a lot of people happy and bring in a lot of money.
Invite 8 public school teams (Page, Northern, Grimsley, Northwest, Northeast,
Ragsdale, Smith, then choose from Eastern, Western, Dudley. Southern, Southeast,
Southwest, HPC and HPA). Put these 8 in the same bracket and crown a public school
champion. Invite 8 private schools (GDS, and High Point Christian, Wesleyan, etc
etc). Put these in the same bracket and crown a private school champion. Then have
the public school champion play the private school champion for the “Grand
Championship”. The Little Four is the most prestigious tournament around with a lot
of attendees. Logistics should not be an issue because the Coliseum was not used
prior to noon. This would pump a lot of money into our community and schools.

18 thoughts on “Should they expand the Pizza Hut Invitational Basketball Tournament?

  1. On a personal note I feel that the original four schools should be represented,then you go from there. Now to be honest do you know the reason why it started out with Grimsley, Dudley ,Smith ,and Page? Tell me . . .I know why, but you readers out there . . . . tell me !

  2. That’s not a bad idea except,why does Dudley have be one of chosen schools as they were one of the four original teams. Way before Ragsdale,Northwest,Northeast,and Northern,see ,that’s how it started back in the mid 60’s. Page,Grimsley,andSmith wouldn’t play their away game at Dudley sothey came up with a double header for two nights to suffice for not coming over to Dudley. You had to live it to know it . . . .you don’t have to be EIENSTEIN to see that. . .Stevie Wonder even saw it ! The original four should be automatic, fill it in with Ragsdale,Northest,Northwest and Northern ,if you gonna be fair and impartial.Then you can have your “preppy division” (the private schools).

  3. Why is Dudley always being looked at as the bad guy?? My goodness! It seems like people are always nick picking and trying to find something negative about that school.

  4. It seems to me if this is a Guilford County Tournament and the County AD is a part of it, then you have to make it available to all the Guilford County Schools. Why should the Greensboro Sports Council have the responsiblity of choosing who is selected and included in this wonderful money making tournament.. My daughter will attend SE Guilford. I know they would love to be a part of this Tourney. They have a strong program having just won the NewBridge Tournament in Ledford after beating Dudley at DHS last week. Southwest Guilford girls won the State 4A Championship last year yet are not included. I salute Donald Moore (former Page graduate) for wanting to be fair and make it a bigger and better tournament. Why not let the Top 4 teams from the year before be automatically entered and have a thanksgiving event that lets the other interested teams play for a spot. I see no reason the same boys and girls teams have to be entered. This would give you the best teams and a more competitive Tournament. We know the teams in the Tournament don’t want to change it but the time has come for fairness to all the schools. Let’s not wait until a lawsuit is filed by some zealous parent wanting a piece of the pie.

  5. #1 – Make the tournament available to all schools (including the privates such as GDS, Wesleyan or whoever).
    #2 – Require each school to sell a specific # of tickets to remain eligible for the tournament each year (this will help maintain the nearly $10k funds giving out each year).
    #3 – The first round would be played at the various schools to set the brackets for the 2nd round to be played at the coliseum. If you play the first round on the road this year, then you will host a first round game the following year.
    #4 – Come up with a formula to determine the first round match ups from #1 thru #16 or however many participate.
    #5 – Schools would make an initial 5 year commitment to participate in the tournament so there is no fear of leaving for other tournaments during that agreed upon time frame.
    #6 – Keep a list of 1-3 alternate schools for the event if a school simply cannot attend due to probation, “no team” or some unpredictable event.
    #7 – Add sponsorships that the schools could help promote within their network leading up to and immediately after the games (ie weekly voicemails, flyers sent home with the kids, other media promotions etc..)
    #8 – The coliseum could increase the seating on the rear of the court areas with stadium style seats.
    #9 – Just to make it even more exciting, if the coliseum could rearrange the seating to get it closer to the court, then it would get rid of the dead air feeling that the current court #1 setting produces for the average game.
    #10 – If each school can sell their allotment of tickets, you create a better marketing plan for current and potential new sponsors and you use the school system and local media from TV, radio, newspapers, blogs (i.e. greensborosports.com) and others to help promote, motivate and sell the tournament, then it will create the added interest and may bring in enough money to give out more than the $10k per school even with the added schools.

  6. You cannot just go off of last years results or how the team finished their overall year. Some teams are loaded with seniors this year and too young the next to compete. They just need to come up with a formula that always all to play if they desire to play and find a better way to seed teams other than each coach ranking the teams from #1 thru the end.

  7. Why not run it just like the Frank Spencer. Best 8 teams in 1 bracket, next 8 teams in a separate bracket.

  8. I THINK IT SHOULD BE 8 PUPLIC AND 8 PRIVATE TO MAKE THE TOURNAMENT FAIR PRIVATE SCHOOLS LIKE GREENSBORO DAY HAS A ADVANTAGE OVER PUPLIC SCHOOLS THEY CAN GET PLAYERS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, WHERE PUPLIC SCHOOLS HAVE TO HAVE PLAYERS FROM THERE SCHOOL DISTRICT, WHICH IS A VERY LARGE DISADVANTAGE TO THE LOCAL PUPLIC SCHOOLS, IF THEY ARE GOING TO PARTISAPATE, LET OTHER PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN, MAKE IT FAIR……..

  9. To Dennis Williamson: – Fair Kid Please ! What about all of the academies and IB programs that allow kids to transfer within the system. There are many kids playing at schools out of their district using these programs that many teams are benefitting from today. Parents and kids should have the options to attend whatever school gives them the best opportunity whether it is a private school or an academy or IB school.

  10. How to expand the tournament has the most articulate idea of all,makes the best logical and fair minded resolution of everyone’s thought on the matter. I can go along with it,why don’t the powers that be see it. It’s a win situation and most fair for all who would like to be involved.

  11. Great Tournament! Great Facility! Great Orgainzation!
    I do not think the format should be changed or the schools. It is excellent for the
    schools and the student athletes. There are no losers. Each school receive money to help
    keep their program. Scholarships are awarded. I think the student athletes
    welcome the challenge of playing tough teams. It showed because the games
    were competitive.

    It may better to plan a additional tournament during Thanksgiving Holiday or before the playoffs start.

  12. I think the Pizza Hut is a great tournament. The 8 participating teams this year all added much value to the event. We had 2 great championship games. The seedings were well done with the top seeds winning. The schools get to walk home with much needed cash due to budget cuts. The games were nice and competitive and it was well attended.

  13. There is no way for regular public schools to compete with private and academy schools. You just have to have 2 touraments. As far as what Fair – Kid Please said about ” Parents and kids should have the options to attend whatever school gives them the best opportunity whether it is a private school or an academy or IB school”. How would you like to have to go to a school that all the talent had been drained from? Did you ever think about that? That’s why there are attendance zones. Maybe 1 day GCS will even out the playing field and stop allowing kids to move to “Greener Pastures” via IB, Academies, dance classes etc, etc.

  14. Yes – I did consider the issue of draining talent from 1 school versus the other. There is just an unfortunate piece of life that all of us most consider within our life choices. The kids that are choosing the private schools, academies and IB programs are not just the best on the court but they are fairly good students as well. The private schools like GDS still will not accept the transfer if the student cannot survive in the classroom based on their entrance exams, the student cannot use the IB program if they are not prepared based on their previous class performance and I would think that the academies work similar but I am not sure. Attendance zones do not carry the weight within various house holds that it once held. Many people within the city (similar to me) did not grow up in Greensboro and I have lived in different parts of the city over the years. Thus, we do not have the same loyalities that a long time resident of the city may have for their local district school. I could care less about Page, Smith, NW, Northern or SW when it comes down to every day life.

  15. Why is GDS the only private school in the Little 4? Is it true they have a bunch of players that have reclassified?

  16. Just read in the paper that Reggie Dillard is 18 years old. Next season he will be 19 years old. C’mon Man! I was 16 years old this time of year during my senior year of high school! It has to stop some where. Go to college Please!

  17. Using the extra year in high school is sort of like opting to red-shirt when you go to college, but you are taking the extra year and using to play in high school instead….

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