When it comes to high school basketball in Illinois, the only thing that comes to close to America’s Original March Madness is December’s holiday tournament season. The Pontiac Holiday Tournament debuted in 1926 and is credited with being the first high school holiday tournament in the country. Pontiac remains one of the state’s top holidays tourneys, but a bevy of great tourneys have joined the ranks throughout the years. Get schedules, fields, brackets and results via the tourney websites, Facebook pages, and twitter feeds linked below:

Pontiac Tournament (1926)

Princeville Tournament (1927)

Chuck Dayton Classic at DeKalb HS (1928)

Centralia Tournament (1943)

Macomb-Western Tournament at WIU (1946)

E.C. Nichols Tournament at Marengo HS (1950)

Kankakee Tournament (1950)

Waverly Tournament (1951)

Carlinville Holiday Tournament (Coed) (1966)

Freeburg-Columbia Tournament (1957)

Forreston Holiday Tournament (1960)

St. Elmo Tournament (1960)

Mater Dei Tournament (1961)

Proviso West Tournament (1961)

Plano Tournament (1963)

Carbondale Tournament (1964)

Eldorado Tournament (1965)

Pekin Tournament (1965)

Vandalia Tournament (1972)

Big Dipper Tournament at Rich South HS (1973)

Jack Tosh Tournament at York HS (1973)

Colmone Classic at Hall HS (1974)

State Farm Holiday Classic in Bloomington-Normal (Coed) (1975)

Dixon HS-KSB Girls Holiday Classic (1977)

Mascoutah Girls Invite (1977)

Wheeling Tournament (1978)

Beardstown Lady Tiger Classic (1981)

Collinsville Tournament (1984)

Williamsville Holiday Tournament (1994)

Jacobs Tournament (2000)

Cliff Warkins Memorial Cardinal Classic at Erie HS (2001)

IC Catholic/Westmont Tournament (2006)

Pinckneyville's Duster Thomas Hoops Classic (2007)

Montini Catholic Tournament (2009)

Marseilles Holiday Tournament (2009)

Taylorville Holiday Tournament (2011)

Effingham-Teutopolis Christmas Classic (2013)

Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic (2015)

Libertyville Winter Girls Basketball Tournament (2016)

Maine East Tournament (2017)

Decatur Eisenhower Tournament (2017)


***Have a boys or girls holiday hoops tourney to add to the list? Email state@ihsa.org so we can add it!***