Prep Hoops: Tigers take No. 1 seed for Eldorado Holiday Tournament
Name tags might not be handed out for identification, but as the kids say: it's been a minute.
After taking last year off due to the coronavirus, the Eldorado Holiday Tournament will kick off in full gear once again this December.
At the EHT seed meeting Wednesday, Herrin (4-1) grabbed the No. 1 seed, while Massac County (5-1) took home the No. 2 seed.
Massac County is the defending EHT champion, knocking off Fairfield in the 2109 title game 57-51.
For Herrin, the come in a combined 24-11 in the EHT and beat Carmi-White County 62-47 for third place in 2019.
Herrin last had the No. 1 seed in 2016, but was upended by Eldorado 57-47 in the championship game that year.
"It's great for the program and something we are excited about," Herrin head coach Sayler Shurtz said Wednesday. "We obviously couldn't go last year, but for us, we're excited."
Shurtz who will be coaching in this third EHT said from a competition standpoint this is the balanced it has been in a while.
"One through 16 are very skilled and are high-quality programs. I think you only had two, maybe three teams that came into today's seed meeting with a losing record. It's going to be very competitive."
The remaining top eight seeds went to (in order) Hamilton County, Fairfield, Carterville, Carmi-White County, Harrisburg and Vienna.
The tournament gets underway on December 27th with Herrin taking on Gallatin County in the 8:30 a.m. game, while Vienna will play Hardin County at 10 a.m. Carterville will battle West Frankfort at 11:30 a.m., followed by Fairfield and Anna-Jonesboro to close out the morning session at 1:45 p.m.
Hamilton County will then play Norris City-Omaha-Enfield at 3:15 p.m., followed by Carmi-White County and Eldorado at 4:45 p.m. Massac County will play Edwards County at 7 p.m. and Harrisburg will take on Carrier Mills-Stonefort at 8:30 p.m.
The loser of Herrin/Gallatin County and Vienna/Hardin County will return Monday night in an elimination game at 10 p.m.
The tournament runs through Wednesday, December 29th.
Spyder Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois LOCAL Media Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.