East to Host Inaugural ARC Madness Tournament

This weekend Shawnee Mission East will be hosting the first ever ARC basketball tournament. This will be the first ever eight team basketball tournament East has ever hosted. Teams from all over the midwest region will be competing including Oklahoma powerhouse, Bishop McGuinness who won the 5A state title last year.

“There are no gimme games,” said East head coach, Shawn Hair, who initially came up with the idea of the tournament. “We approach scheduling differently than some other schools. I want to challenge my kids, and the kids want to be challenged.”

One of the most unique aspects of the tournament will be that the opening round will feature private schools versus public schools.

“There’s been a four team tournament about 20 years ago at East but never eight teams let alone a public versus private school tournament, so this will be pretty cool,” said senior forward Vance Wentz.

“All the teams are good and Bishop McGuinness is a defending state champion so the competition will be a great warmup for this season.”

Administrator, Jeremy Higgins hopes that the tournament will be an ongoing tradition and help diversify the type of competition that East will face in the future.

“Funds will follow the tournament to help fund the next tournament as well as all the schools that participate. Not only will the basketball team get to face new teams but students will see different teams and not just the local teams. There’s been a lot of hard work put into this tournament so hopefully this won’t be a one year wonder and will continue on for a long time.