The path to the top of the podium is getting increasingly difficult at the Knights Classic.
The 28th annual Knights Classic at Holy Trinity Academy will feature its most competitive field in tournament history with five of the top 10 teams at the 4A level in the province on the Okotoks hardcourt Jan. 10-11.
"I really do believe this is probably one of the top tournaments in Alberta this year," said HTA Knights head coach Sam Aiello. "Just because of where everybody falls in the rankings and who happens to be coming to our tournament. To have five of the top 10 teams in one tournament, that's almost as close to having a provincial championship as you can get."
Along with the No. 10 ranked hosts HTA and sixth-ranked Foothills Falcons representing Okotoks, the field also includes Calgary’s No. 1 ranked St. Mary’s Saints, the No. 4 Lethbridge Collegiate Institute (L.C.I.) Rams and Calgary’s Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs, the eighth-ranked squad.
Aiello said this is without a doubt the strongest field at a Knights Classic in the nearly 30-year history of the event.
"One hundred per cent," he said. "When we were 3A, we did have some strong fields of 3A teams that were ranked provincially, but at the 4A level this is definitely the strongest tournament we've ever had."
Having two Okotoks teams in the province's top 10 rankings, the first of which were released in mid-December for 4A teams, speaks to the quality of basketball in the region, the coach added.
"The state of basketball in Okotoks is just really strong right now," Aiello said. "And most of the credit goes to our feeder systems in Okotoks minor basketball, they've just done a really great job in terms of teaching kids skills and the talent level, by the time they come to us, is just so much better."
The 2025 Knights Classic gets underway on Jan. 10 at 1:15 p.m. with HTA taking on Calgary’s Lester B. Pearson. Foothills has drawn L.C.I. in the opening round, a 4:45 p.m. tip-off on Friday.
The playoff schedule on day two sees the seventh-place final at 1:45 p.m., consolation final at 3:30 p.m. bronze medal match at 5:15 p.m. and championship game at 7 p.m.
Both HTA and Foothills enter the competition on a strong run of form.
The Knights bested the Raymond Comets at home prior to the holiday break by an 81-56 score, led by a 23-point effort from Charlie Humphries and the team shooting 47 per cent from beyond the arc. Foothills won bronze at Raymond’s Sugar Bowl tournament to close the month.
Last year’s competition featured an all-Okotoks final for the first time at the Classic with the host Knights getting by the Falcons in a seesaw contest.
The tournament schedule can be found below.
