Men’s and women’s teams from four states will take the floor during the Mid-South Community College Greyhound Tipoff Classic on Friday, Nov. 1, and Saturday, Nov. 2.Teams from Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee will play eight games in two days on the Greyhounds’ new home court on the College’s South Campus. No admission fee will be charged during the tournament.
In addition to MSCC, Jackson State Community College of Tennessee, St. Louis Community College of Missouri, Mid-Continent University of Kentucky, the Memphis Tigers Club (women) of Tennessee, and North Arkansas College will participate in the classic-format event.
MSCC Athletic Director and men’s basketball coach Chris Parker said the College opted to host the event for three reasons.
“First and foremost, we want to showcase our new gym,” he said. “We’re very proud of it, and we want other people to experience it. We want the people of our community to be a part of it, and we want the people at the other schools to know we now have a first-class facility of our own.”
“Second, this is the first time we’ve had the opportunity to start our season at home. We thought it would be only fitting for us to have a home-court advantage at the start of the season for a change. In past years, we’ve gone to another tournament to open the season.”
“Third, we feel there is no better way to begin the process of establishing a great atmosphere than to tip off our season by hosting a tournament. We want to include the people of our community in what we feel will be a unique, fun, and exciting experience that you cannot find anywhere else. This is not anyone’s individual team; this is ‘our’ team, our entire community.”
Women’s coach Kim Ezell said opening the season at home will be a great boost to the Lady Greyhounds.
“We’re really excited to have a tournament to open our new gym,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a great event. We have some competitive teams coming for men and women. I’m looking forward to it, and I know the girls will be ready. I think we should do this every year.”
MSCC’s women will start the action at 2 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1, against National Junior College Athletic Association Division II foe St. Louis Community College. Mid-South’s men will follow with a game against Mid-Continent’s junior varsity team.
At 6 p.m., Jackson State CC’s women will battle the Memphis Tigers Club, and JSCC’s men will take on NorthArk in Friday’s finale.
On Saturday, Nov. 2, JSCC’s women will square off against St. Louis at noon, and NorthArk’s men will take the court against Mid-Continent at 2. MSCC’s women will follow at 4 p.m. with a tilt against the Memphis Tigers Club, and the Greyhound men will complete the action with a 6 p.m. contest against Jackson State.
Ezell said the Lady Greyhounds will have their hands full.
“We played St. Louis Community College last year at a tournament they hosted, and they have a good team. They beat NorthArk last year, and that’s something we haven’t been able to do. We’ll have to be prepared for them.”
The Memphis Tiger Club team will present a different kind of challenge.
“We’ve never played them, but they’re kind of like a semi-pro team that travels to play in different places and tournaments,” Ezell said. “Their players have a lot of experience; some of them played overseas. Some of the players are my age, and I’ve played with them.”
“I haven’t seen the roster yet, but I’m pretty sure I’ll know about four or five of their players. They are definitely competitive and will have plenty of wisdom. We need to try to maintain the flow of the game instead of letting them dictate what happens. My hope is to keep them running because I know they’re not in shape like we are.”
On the men’s side, MSCC will be playing familiar foes, “We’ve played Jackson State Community College the last two years at the Volunteer State tournament,” Parker said. “We are very fortunate that they chose to participate in our tournament this season. It’s kind of cool that we’re going to be able to play them for the third straight year but have a home-court advantage this time instead of being on a neutral floor.”
“Mid-Continent has a new coaching staff, so we won’t know what to expect. We know from playing them last year that they have a competitive bunch of guys returning, so we’ll need to be ready.”
The Greyhounds will not play NorthArk because they will meet the Pioneers three times later in the season. Parker said he’s glad the Harrison men agreed to participate in the event.
“They wanted to see our new place, partly because it’s to their advantage to play in it before they play us here (Jan. 18) in a game that means more to both teams. At the same time, we get a chance to see them, and then we’ll play in their tournament two weeks later. It’s a very reciprocal relationship that we’re happy to have.”
Following the tournament, MSCC’s women will host Shawnee Community College on Monday, Nov. 4, and the women and men will host Northwest Mississippi Community College on Thursday, Nov. 7.
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