This will be the 23rd season of The Yarnell Invitational (named after Yarnell Ice Cream in Searcy, AR). As always, it'll be a 6 team round-robin tournament that'll occur in weeks 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the non-conference schedule. Harding University will be the tournament host. The defending champ from the previous year is an automatic qualifier. The remainder of the field is invitation only based on alblack's dynasty rankings. Link to latest and greatest is at:

http://bit.ly/W26OYf

IF YOU ARE AT OR CLOSE TO THE TOP OF THE DYNASTY RANKINGS AND INTERESTED IN PLAYING IN THIS TOURNAMENT, KEEP NON-CONF GAME #'s 5 THROUGH 9 OPEN UNTIL NOTICE THIS TOURNAMENT IS FULL.

Formal Invitations will be sent out sometime after job application period is over, but you can reply now if you plan to play in this tournament.

FORMAT: 5 games, Round Robin
Game #5: DC @ Host, #2 @ #1, #4 @ #3
Game #6: Host @ #4, #1 @ DC, #2 @ #3
Game #7: #3 @ Host, #1 @ #4, DC @ #2
Game #8: Host @ #2, #3 @ #1, #4 @ DC
Game #9: #1 @ Host, #2 @ #4, #3 @ DC

Defending Champ: Longwood [CVAC]
Host: Harding [GulfSouth]

Formal Invitations extended to the following schools:
Seattle [GNAA]
St Marys TX [Heartland]
Mercy [ECC]
CSU-Stanislaus [CCAA]

St Marys TX and Longwood are in.

Mercy is in.

I'm in

So we're down to zagman. Btw, if you're interested in playing this tournament and at or near the top of the dynasty rankings, keep 5-9 clear until we fill it up.

We're in.

FORMAT: 5 games, Round Robin
Game #5: Longwood @ Harding, St Marys TX @ Seattle, CSU-Stanislaus @ Mercy
Game #6: Harding @ CSU-Stanislaus, Seattle @ Longwood, St Marys TX @ Mercy
Game #7: Mercy @ Harding, Seattle @ CSU-Stanislaus, Longwood @ St Marys TX
Game #8: Harding @ St Marys TX, Mercy @ Seattle, CSU-Stanislaus @ Longwood
Game #9: Seattle @ Harding, St Marys TX @ CSU-Stanislaus, Mercy @ Longwood

This tournament goes back a few seasons...

Season	Champion	Coach	Runnerup	MVP
63	St Marys TX 3	mduncanhogs	Harding	Terry Coombs, PG, St Marys TX
62	Longwood 3	bbunch	Indianapolis	Michael Schwizer, PG, Longwood
61	Belmont Abbey	crashdive	Seattle	Kenneth Guin, SG, Belmont Abbey
60	Harding 3 RU	hackerhog	Seattle	Darius Turnipseed, C, Harding
59	St Marys TX 2	mduncanhogs	Bowie State	Harold Baker, PF, St Marys TX
58	Longwood 2	bbunch	New Jersey Tech	Arthur Brown, PG, Longwood
57	St Marys TX	mduncanhogs	Longwood	Ronald Golden, SG, New Jersey Tech
56	Harding 2	hackerhog	Longwood	Joseph Stone, C, Harding
55	Longwood RU	bbunch	Bowie State NC	Robert Coffey, PG, Longwood
54	Northeastern St 2	burkboyz	N Florida	Gary Elzey, PG, Northeastern St
53	Northeastern St RU	burkboyz	Gannon	Jacob Ellis, SF, Northeastern St
52	Incarnate Word	davefilby	Harding	Mitchell Bridwell, C, Incarnate Word
51	Gannon 4	bvb24	Longwood	Don Graves, PG, Gannon
50	N Florida	pinkeye	Gannon NC	Thomas Johnson, PG, N Florida
49	Gannon 3	bvb24	Longwood	Richard Winslow, C, Gannon
48	Caldwell 3 RU	furry_nipps	SE Oklahoma St	Robert Hibbert, SG, Caldwell
47	Gannon 2 RU	bvb24	Caldwell NC	Charlie Hagerman, PG, Gannon
46	Caldwell 2	furry_nipps	Concord	Stanley Underhill, SF, Caldwell
45	Gannon	bvb24	Concord	Danny Brown, SG, Gannon
44	Harding	hackerhog	Bellarmine	Harold Nolan, SF, Harding
43	Caldwell RU	furry_nipps	Concord	Ralph Demar, PG, Caldwell
42	Bellarmine NC	greenhawks	Caldwell	Wayne Pam, PG, Bellarmine

Legend
# - Yarnell Titles
NC - National Champion that season
RU - Runnerup that season

Interesting that only 1 winner of the Yarnell has won the NC (and that was in the tournament's first season), but 6 winners have been runner up and 3 Yarnell runners up have won the NC.

Now that you bring that up...

Yarnell participants in the final game...

42 - Bellarmine NC
43 - Harding NC, Caldwell RU
47 - Caldwell NC, Gannon RU - rematch of Yarnell final
48 - Caldwell RU
49 - N Florida NC
50 - Gannon NC
53 - Northeastern St RU
55 - Bowie State NC, Longwood RU - rematch of Yarnell final
60 - Longwood NC, Harding RU

Heck. I was RU twice before I started this tournament. Back in the days before FSS.

Preseason rankings of this season's Yarnell teams:

#3 Harding
#14 Cal St Stanislaus
#16 Seattle
#18 Longwood
NR St Marys TX
NR Mercy

Round 1
#8 St Marys TX (4-0) -10 @ Seattle (1-3)
#20 Cal St Stanislaus (3-1) -6 @ Mercy (2-2)
Longwood (2-2) +1 @ Harding (2-2)

Players to watch
SF Lonnie Cook 6'3" 198 SR - St Marys TX - 1st team All American
PF Stephen Clevenger 6'7" 202 SR - Mercy - Honorable Mention AA

All 3 games could've gone the other direction on just one or two possessions. Tournament looks dead even from top to bottom.

mduncanhogs keeps telling me his team is overrated. While he may be right, what is also true is he has the best player in the tournament. sometimes having the best player is all that matters.

Standings
Longwood 1-0
St Marys TX 1-0
Seattle 1-1
Mercy 1-1
Cal St Stanislaus 0-1
Harding 0-1

Round 2
#7 St Marys TX (5-0) -8 @ Mercy (3-2)
Seattle (1-4) +5 @ #24 Longwood (3-2)
Harding (2-3) Pickem @ Cal St Stanislaus (3-2)

Round 1A Results
@Seattle 69, Mercy 52
S: J Lawton 17 (POG), S Wilson 15
M: G Gordon 11

Round 1B Results
St Marys TX 60, @Seattle 59
SMU: M Kilburn 18 (POG), D Jefferson 9/11R, L Cook 10
S: J Lawton 16, J Lammers 12, S Wilson 12, B Swafford 10R

@Mercy 57, Cal St Stanislaus 55
M: S Clevenger 12 (POG), S McGivney 12
CSS: R Pearson 13, R Lain 10

Longwood 67, @Harding 63
L: J Carson 15 (POG), J Thurber 11, G Mansfield 11
H: A Brown 14, R Crooker 11

Outstanding individual performances, a team effort, and a buzzer beater come from round 2. Control of Yarnell on the line in round 3.

Standings
Longwood 2-0
St Marys TX 2-0
Harding 1-1
Seattle 1-2
Mercy 1-2
Cal St Stanislaus 0-2

Round 3
#18 Longwood (4-2) +2 @ #4 St Marys TX (6-0)
Mercy (3-3) +1 @ Harding (3-3)
Seattle (1-5) +3 @ Cal St Stanislaus (3-3)

Round 2 Results
St Marys TX 70, @ Mercer
SMU: L Cook 21 (POG), M Gould 19, M Kilburn 12
M: G Gordon 14, S Clevenger 13, R McLaughlin 12

@Longwood 64, Seattle 54
L: J Carson 12 (POG), G Mansfield 12, J Thurber 10
S: J Lawton 15, J Hawks 10

Harding 61, @Cal St Stanislaus 59
H: P Johnson 11 (POG), R Crooker 13, J Goggans 10R
D Schroeder 13, R Pearson 10R

Big game between Longwood and St. Mary's tonight.  bbunch and I are tied 5-5 in our career series.  The winner of this one gets the upper hand there and is in good shape in the Yarnell as well.