One of the most anticipated annual events on the mid-Missouri prep basketball calendar is changing venues.
The Norm Stewart Classic is departing Columbia College’s Southwell Complex and heading across town to Mizzou Arena.
This winter’s event will be the 12th annual basketball showcase with the former Missouri men’s basketball head coach’s name attached to it, starting Dec. 6 and running through Dec. 8.
Stewart never coached a game at Mizzou Arena, he yelled from the sidelines of the Hearnes Center and Brewer Fieldhouse for 32 seasons. However, the court at Mizzou Arena is named in honor of Stewart. A statue of Stewart also stands outside the main entrance.
The Norm Stewart Classic was founded by the late Gary Filbert with “the intention of honoring Coach Norm Stewart by showcasing student-athletes in Missouri and by raising money for the American Cancer Society’s Coaches vs. Cancer program,” a news release in anticipation of last year’s showcase stated.
Stewart began the pilot program for Coaches vs. Cancer while at the helm at Missouri.
“The thing I like is that we have both boys and girls, men and women,” Stewart said last year about his namesake event. “I enjoy seeing the young people come in and play and compete.”
This year’s event will again feature 24 games in 48 continuous hours of basketball, with each contest airing live on ESPN3. The first game of the showcase will begin at 6 p.m. on Dec. 6. The final contest tips off at 4 p.m. on Dec. 8.
Seven Columbia teams competed at the event last year, including the eventual state champion Rock Bridge boys, who won the final matchup against Raytown South.
Sources told the Tribune that as a part of the move to Mizzou Arena, which seats around 14,000 more than the Southwell Complex, teams with national attention will be sought as competitors.
Out of the 48 teams to compete at last season’s Norm Stewart Classic, 46 were from Missouri. The other pair were from Illinois.
Stewart, an 84-year-old Shelbyville native, won 731 games as the Tigers head coach and was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.
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