City of Palms Classic 2013: Dates, Teams, Schedule, Bracket and Predictions

The holiday season is usually highlighted by marquee tournaments across college basketball, but at the 2013 City of Palms Classic, the future Andrew Wigginses and Marcus Smarts will get a chance to make a major impression.

Hosted in Fort Myers, Fla., the City of Palms Classic will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its inaugural tournament. Originally a seven-team event with little to no fanfare, the event has developed into one of the best showcases of young talent in the world. As one would expect, the massive increase and profile of prep players has also made the event a hotbed of college coaches lucky enough to get the weekend off and scouts starting to compile their binders.

Oh, and there's also a basketball tournament between some of the most storied programs in the world.

Last season's winner, Montverde Academy, returns but faces a field on par with any City of Palms Classic in history. Other highly touted programs, such Fairfax Paul VI and Whitney Young, will look to climb the rankings by knocking off Montverde, while even secondary contenders have rich histories of high-level competition. It's not too often that Brooklyn's Lincoln High, notable for graduating Sebastian Telfair, or Akron's St. Vincent-St. Mary (LeBron James. Duh.) come into events expected to face early exits.

But when it comes to the City of Palms Classic, only the elite need apply. Each squad in the 16-team tournament comes in thinking it has a chance to win, and even though that may not be the case, the competitiveness should make for an interesting weekend of basketball.

With that in mind, let's take a look at what to expect in Fort Myers later this week and pick a winner for the tournament. 

Tournament Information

When: Wednesday, Dec. 18 - Monday, Dec. 23

Where: Fort Myers, Fla.

Bracket: The full bracket is available on the City of Palms Classic's official website. 

Game No.	Matchup	Date	Time (ET)
1	Orlando Oak Ridge (Fla.) vs. Decatur Greenforest Christian (Ga.)	Dec. 18	2:30 p.m.
2	Philadelphia Neumann-Goretti (Pa.) vs. Denver East (Colo.)	Dec. 18	4:15 p.m.
3	Bradenton IMG Academy (Fla.) vs. Weston Sagemont (Fla.)	Dec. 18	6 p.m.
4	Fort Myers Bishop Verot (Fla.) vs. Alpharetta Milton (Ga.)	Dec. 18	7:45 p.m.
5	Jacksonville Providence (Fla.) vs. Bellflower St. John Bosco (Calif.)	Dec. 18	9:30 p.m.
6	Game 2 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser	Dec. 19	12 p.m.
7	Game 4 Winner (If Milton) or Game 1 Winner vs. Montverde Academy (Fla.)	Dec. 19	1:40 p.m.
8	Fairfax Paul VI (Va.) vs. Miami Norland (Fla.)	Dec. 19	3:20 p.m.
9	Apopka Wekiva (Fla.) vs. Plantation American Heritage (Fla.)	Dec. 19	5 p.m.
10	Game 2 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner	Dec. 19	6:45 p.m.
11	Marietta Wheeler (Ga.) vs. Houston Yates (Texas)	Dec. 19	8:30 p.m.
12	Brooklyn Lincoln (N.Y.) vs. Game 4 Winner (if Bishop Verot) or Game 1 Winner	Dec. 19	10:15 p.m.
13	Game 8 Loser vs. Game 1 Loser	Dec. 20	10 a.m.
14	Game 11 Loser vs. Game 7 Loser	Dec. 20	11:40 a.m.
15	Game 12 Loser vs. Game 5 Loser	Dec. 20	1:20 p.m.
16	Oldsmar Christian (Fla.) vs. Wolfeboro Brewster Academy (N.H.)	Dec. 20	3 p.m.
17	Game 8 Winner vs. Game 11 Winner	Dec. 20	4:45 p.m.
18	Wichita Sunrise Christian (Kan.) vs. East London Barking Abbey (U.K.)	Dec. 20	6:30 p.m.
19	Game 7 Winner vs. Game 12 Winner	Dec. 20	8:15 p.m.
20	Chicago Whitney Young (Ill.) vs. Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (Ohio)	Dec. 20	10 p.m.
21	Game 6 Loser vs. Game 13 Loser	Dec. 21	9 a.m.
22	Game 14 Loser vs. Game 15 Loser	Dec. 21	10:40 a.m.
23	Game 6 Winner vs. Game 15 Winner	Dec. 21	12:20 p.m.
24	Game 14 Winner vs. Game 13 Winner	Dec. 21	2 p.m.
25	Game 19 Loser vs. Game 10 Loser	Dec. 21	3:45 p.m.
26	Game 20 Loser vs. Game 17 Loser	Dec. 21	5:30 p.m.
27	Game 10 Winner vs. Game 19 Winner	Dec. 21	7:15 p.m.
28	Game 17 Winner vs. Game 20 Winner	Dec. 21	9 p.m.
29	Game 18 Loser vs. Game 16 Loser	Dec. 22	3 p.m.
30	Game 18 Winner vs. Game 16 Winner	Dec. 22	4:45 p.m.
31	Game 25 Loser vs. Game 26 Loser	Dec. 23	10:15 a.m.
32	Game 24 Winner vs. Game 23 Winner	Dec. 23	12 p.m.
33	Tampa Berkeley Prep (Fla.) vs. Port Charlotte (Fla.)	Dec. 23	1:45 p.m.
34	Game 25 Winner vs. Game 26 Winner	Dec. 23	3:30 p.m.
35	Game 27 Loser vs. Game 28 Loser	Dec. 23	5:15 p.m.
36	Tifton Tift County (Ga.) vs. Orlando Lake Highland Prep (Fla.)	Dec. 23	7 p.m.
37	Game 27 Winner vs. Game 28 Winner	Dec. 23	8:45 p.m.

Tournament Preview

For those without attachment to an individual schools, this event will be all about watching the up-and-coming prospects. Luckily, one doesn't have to look too hard to find elite talent.

At the top of the bill is Duke commit Jahlil Okafor, who may be the top recruit in the Class of 2014. The Whitney Young center is arguably the most physically dominant force in prep basketball. At 6'10" and 270 pounds, Okafor is already built like a man in his mid-20s and is already showing a promising amount of polish. He can stretch out a little bit on the mid-range and has an array of post moves that help take advantage of his girth.

Okafor's Whitney Young squad is arguably the most likely to take down defending champion Montverde. The Chicago power boasts Georgetown commit and 4-star forward Paul White to go along with Okafor, creating an elite inside presence that manifests itself with a ton of points in the paint. 

What Montverde lacks in top-10 prospects, it makes up for in depth. The defending champions boast five of the top 150 players in the Class of 2014, per the 247Sports composite rankings. Explosive shooting guard D'Angelo Russell leads the way, with his combination of sweet shooting and athleticism making folks in Columbus awfully anxious for his arrival.

Forward Makinde London is also a ball of potential. At 6'10" and 195 pounds, he's built like a kid who hit his growth spurt way too early. London won't be able to body up guys like Okafor, but he's able to make up for his lack of strength with elite, elite athleticism. 

Paul VI is also familiar with depth. It has a complete lack of elite talent in the Class of 2014 but has two high-profile juniors leading the way. Forward Marcus Derrickson and guard Franklin Howard are sure to make waves next season, but it will be interesting to see whether they can hang with players a year older on this level. Based on their stellar starts to the season, it's very likely they can. We'll just need to see it at the City of Palms to be sure.

Other elite talent includes Lake Highland guard Joel Berry and Abraham Lincoln guard Isaiah Whitehead. Berry, who is committed to North Carolina, is a deceptively strong athlete with the talent to be a very good all-around point guard. Whitehead may be the best individual player at Abraham Lincoln since Telfair. He's a score-first gunner whose game is similar to a young Dwyane Wade's.

To put it mildly, there are quite a few guys here who likely have NBA futures.

Tournament Prediction

From a team perspective, it feels like we're heading toward an inevitable Montverde-Whitney Young final. The bracket is set up in such a way to put Montverde on the opposite side of the bracket as Whitney Young and Paul VI, meaning the two sides seem preordained to fight for a spot in the final game. While Paul VI is a deep squad and has talent at the guard spots, I think the experience and size of Whitney Young will prove too much.

On the other side, Montverde is just better. Daniel Hamilton and St. John Bosco may pose a bit of a threat in a potential semifinal, but Montverde came into the season ranked No. 1 by most publications for a reason. The coaching, depth and experience of this team are just too much. 

Plus, it doesn't exactly hurt to be playing in your home state.

As for a potential Whitney Young-Montverde final, it will come down to a battle between top-heavy talent and elite depth. Okafor is the best prep player in the country for my money. Montverde has enough bodies to throw his way, but none of them match up perfectly. Okafor shouldn't have any trouble walking away with a double-double.

The problem here is that Whitney Young will have too much trouble stopping Montverde's array of talent. Okafor can have his; it's just not going to be enough.

Tournament Winner: Montverde

Follow Tyler Conway on Twitter: