2025 Tournament of Champions wishlist: Boozer twins, Link's return and Central (again?)
The 2024 Bass Pro Tournament of Champions is over and we've already put together our wishlist for who we'd like to see in the field next year.
We went through different rankings and rosters to try and figure out who the top attractions for the 2025 event. There are a few teams worthy of quickly returning and some names that would surely fill up Great Southern Bank Arena.
A few schools on this list might make it. No schools on this list might make it. But we will dream anyway with this wishlist while knowing the tournament will deliver a loaded field no matter what.
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Getting the Boozer twins to Springfield would be the tournament's biggest get
The top names in high school basketball heading into 2025 are the sons of two-time NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer with his twins being among the top prospects in their class.
The two play for Christopher Columbus High School out of Miami.
Cameron Boozer is a five-star prospect and is arguably the No. 1 player in the 2025 class. He's a 6-foot-9, 235-pound forward who is already receiving comparisons to the likes of Paolo Banchero who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
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His brother, Cayden Boozer, attends the same school and is a consensus top-20 recruit. The 6-foot-3 point guard is a 247Sports Composite five-star prospect being recruited by the biggest college basketball programs in the country.
The Tournament of Champions has a reputation for reeling in the biggest fish in high school basketball. This would be its biggest since bringing Bronny James to Springfield.
We'd never pass up on an opportunity to see Link Academy
Link Academy won its debut tournament in 2023 but wasn't invited back for 2024. Springfield Public Schools has made it clear that the annual tournament won't be an annual showcase for the Branson-based power to participate and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
We still wouldn't mind seeing the Lions play every chance we get.
Link is still considered one of the great high school basketball teams in the country and touts a top-five national ranking. It has elite prospects that could be on the roster come next year including five-star combo guard Jasper Johnson. It's difficult to project who will be on the team next year as the roster has changed so much from year to year in its three seasons but they've always had top-tier recruits. There's no reason to think that'll change going into 2024-25.
La Lumiere is currently stacked for 2025
La Lumiere made its lone appearance at the tournament in 2018 and made the championship game where it lost to Oak Hill. The Lakers featured Tyger Campbell and Isaiah Stewart — two names that made major impacts on the college level before the latter was drafted with the 16th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
Their current 2025 class is loaded. They feature a top-10 consensus five-star combo guard in Jalen Harlson and a five-star combo guard in Darius Adams. The Lakers also tout two other top-100, four-star prospects.
Prolific Prep out of California features two No. 1 prospects
The 247Sports Composite No. 1 prospects for the 2025 and 2026 classes both play for Prolific Prep out of Napa, California. It's hard to beat that.
A.J. Dybantsa is a 6-foot-9, 200-pounder in the 2025 class with Tyran Stokes being a 6-foot-7, 245-pound power forward in the 2026 class. Both have NBA potential and would be a heck of a matchup to put against the Boozer twins. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
The usual suspects are always welcome
Montverde is always an obvious choice and it currently features Caleb Gaskins, the No. 6 rising junior in the country who is a five-star. It also has a five-star 2026 prospect in combo guard Kayden Allen. The Tournament of Champions likes to get top players when they're going into their junior years.
It feels like IMG Academy is due here any year. It was scheduled to be in Springfield during the 2021 event that was canceled due to the pandemic. It has a five-star rising senior and another four-star rising junior. It will also have a pair of outgoing top-35 prospects for a program that routinely reloads.
What are the regional prospects like?
Oak Park out of Kansas City has been the No. 1 team in Class 6 since the first rankings were released. The Northmen are led by a handful of standout 2025 prospects and it's unlikely this program will drop off.
Father Tolton could be one to keep an eye on out of Columbia. The Trailblazers should be a state contender and feature former Link Academy standout Aaron Rowe who recently committed to Mizzou. He's already played in the tournament so there might not be a pressing need to feature him again. However, that roster is really good and it shouldn't be discounted.
Little Rock Christian has a five-star prospect in the Class of 2026. Shootin guard J.J. Andrews is a 6-foot-6 star who is attracting offers from most big-time programs within the region.
Central could get another invite in 2025. Which area team could join it?
The Bulldogs' reign as one of the top teams in the Ozarks should carry over into the 2024-25 season. The only senior on the roster is standout guard Tyrique Brooks but having the likes of Keion Epps, Bryce Walker, Devin Sanford and TayShaun Wells back next season could result in a second-straight invitation — which we've seen Springfield Public Schools do before.
It's unlikely that we'll see Glendale again next season even with Amare Witham heading into his junior year. It's more likely that SPS will turn to another program and there's a chance we could see it stay in-district for a second-straight year if it doesn't consider Link Academy as its second local program.
More: Central continues area dominance with win over Glendale at Tournament of Champions
Parkview may be the frontrunner of the traditional area high schools. Jack Simpson has a talented roster that will lose a few seniors after this year but has a few really good juniors who should keep the Vikings among the best teams in the area.
If Link Academy is considered one of the two area teams, Parkview could be chosen over the Bulldogs since they played in this year's tournament.
Arguments can always be made for the likes of Kickapoo and Nixa. If we were to project now, those two could be in line for the 2026 event when Chiefs sophomore star Reese Kimrey is a senior. SPS will probably want to feature current Nixa sophomore Jackson Cantwell, one of the best football prospects in the nation, along with the rise of current freshman Adam McKnight.
More: Central senior Tyrique Brooks wins 2024 Tournament of Champions slam dunk contest
Logan-Rogersville is another one to keep an eye on heading into future years. Current freshman Chase Branham is a legitimate Division I prospect. We've heard nothing but amazing things about the eighth-grade class coming in right behind him. The Wildcats haven't appeared since 2004 but they might be worthy of a nod by 2027.
Two other wildcards include Hillcrest which hasn't been invited since 2013 but has started to find some consistency under Jordan Fielding. You also have to remember that Link Academy was considered one of the two local teams in 2023 and it will likely be back at Great Southern Bank Arena sooner rather than later. Hopefully, SPS will decide to go with two traditional local high school programs in addition to Link when it's inevitably invited back.
Future Tournament Predictions
2025 - Parkview and Central or Link Academy
2026 - Kickapoo and Nixa
2027 - TBD SPS program and Logan-Rogersville
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the host of the weekly "Wyatt's World Podcast" on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Tournament of Champions 2025: Teams we'd like to see in Springfield
