20th annual Piggly Wiggly Roundball Classic has strong field

The 20th annual Piggly Wiggly Roundball Classic will have a potent field when the event tips off Dec. 26 at North Charleston High School.

This year’s field includes 10 local teams and six from out of state. Pairings for this year’s tournament were announced at a news conference this afternoon. Former College of Charleston coach Bobby Cremins was the guest speaker.

The local teams include perennial SCISA powers Pinewood Prep and Porter-Gaud. The other local teams include Charleston Collegiate, West Ashley, Stratford, James Island, Summerville, Wando, Goose Creek and North Charleston.

North Charleston won the Class AA state championship last winter. But the Cougars lost all five starters to graduation. Coach Blake Hall resigned after the memorable season to take the Goose Cree job.

The out-of-state teams include two North Carolina schools, Charlotte Christian and Northwood Temple, and two schools from Maryland, Mount St. Joseph and Our Lady of Good Counsel. The other teams are Roswell, Ga., and Thomas Jefferson, which is located in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Charlotte Christian went 24-8 last year as features future Clemson Tiger Patrick Rooks. He hit 37 percent from 3-point land last year and averaged 14 points a game.

Northwood Temple features 6-10 center Sidy Mohamed Djitte, who is getting recruited by numerous schools including Memphis, Missouri, North Carolina State and Virginia Commonwealth.

Kam Williams is another high profile player. He plays for Mount St. Joseph and averaged 18 points last winter. He will play for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Mt. St. Joseph went 28-6 team and was a consensus top-10 team in Maryland last winter.

Thomas Jefferson is one of the top teams in the New York metropolitan area and returns 10 players from last year’s team that went 26-10.