Wild, wild Proviso West
Last year at the Proviso West Holiday Tournament, there were a few delays caused by a leak in the gym roof. It led to some of the teams warming up in the adjacent field house.
That got tournament director Joe Spagnolo thinking.
“I started wondering what we could do if we used the field house more,” Spagnolo said. “There are always teams asking me if they can join the tournament and I was tired of saying ‘no.’ So I went to the drawing board.”
What he came up with is certainly a bold move. Starting next year, the Proviso West Holiday Tournament will double in size, increasing from 16 to 32 teams—that’s nearly half the size of the NCAA’s March Madness Tournament. It’s the first holiday tournament in Illinois to go to 32 teams; there are a dozen or so 16 team tournaments.
“I’ve thought about this for over a year now,” Spagnolo said. “We are always innovative, we’ve done a lot of cutting-edge things. We took our time with it, but with the unusually high number of teams we’ve had wanting to be in the tournament over the past 10 years I think it makes sense. I’m kind of surprised nobody has done this before.”
The tournament began in 1961 with eight teams and expanded to 16 teams the next year. It has a storied tradition, with 29 former tournament players having gone on to play in the ABA or NBA.
Some critics believe that long legacy could be threatened by the change.
“I just think the intimacy is lost, along with a lot of the historical perspective, comparisons and records from the past, that’s important to a tournament with such a history,” recruiting analyst Joe Henricksen said. “And I don’t like any regular-season game being played in a fieldhouse.”
This is how it will work: The first two days of the tournament will all be opening-round games and will be held in the gym. Over the next three days games will be played in the gym and field house, with times staggered so none of them start and end at the same time. The final day, all games will be in the gym.
“So it still has the dignity in the opening round and on the final night,” Spagnolo said. “And, tentatively, our date structure is going to have us finish with the championship game on New Year’s Eve day every year.”
Spagnolo is hoping that watching the championship game every year on Dec. 31, in the afternoon, becomes a tradition for local hoops fans.
It’s an exciting idea, and I think it’s likely. Most of the other holiday tournaments are wrapped up by then, so there will be little competition (Pontiac’s final day occasionally falls on Dec. 31).
Spagnolo said that ticket prices will not be raised, and hinted that he already has the majority of the new 16 teams committed.
“We’ve still got a few spaces left open,” Spagnolo said. “I’m not sure what we are going to do with them yet. We would not be opposed to teams from downstate or outside the state of Illinois.”
Spagnolo said he’s looking for schools that have good fanbases and traditionally strong basketball programs.
“We don’t want to raid other tournaments,” Spagnolo said. “We don’t need the top 32 teams in the rankings. We want good programs that people want to see that are competitive.”
So far I’ve only been able to find out a few of the new schools. All three are strong public school programs from the western suburbs. Spagnolo doesn’t want to announce any of the new teams until after the holiday tournaments start up this season.
“I don’t want to spoil the current tournaments they are playing in by shifting the spotlight or something,” Spagnolo said.
Fans and coaches I’ve spoken with this week were split on the new format. No one likes the games in the fieldhouse, but several people said their opinion will depend on the quality of teams brought in.
Every player I’ve talked to thinks the idea is great. They aren’t as concerned with the history of the tournament, and like how the new Proviso West will resemble a mini-NCAA Tournament.
“Proviso West is a name and brand, they do so many things well to make it a must-see tournament,” Henricksen said. “ I’m sure it will continue to draw big name teams and plenty of fans.”
Don Cash Seaton invented the holiday basketball tournament in Pontiac in 1926, and fans all over the state have been flocking to them for the last 85 years. It was probably about time for another fresh idea.
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