Beach No Longer Headed to The Throne
National tournament withdraws invitation to back-to-back state champions
The latest bracket for a national high-school basketball tournament no longer lists Seattle’s Rainier Beach High School boys’ basketball team, and Viking coach Mike Bethea confirmed that his team’s invitation was withdrawn on Sunday.
The back-to-back Washington State 3A champions were scheduled to play in The Throne, a tournament produced by the NBPA, the union representing NBA players, and Gold Level Sports and Entertainment, starting on Thursday, March 19, in East Rutherford, N.J.
Neither the NBPA (National Basketball Players Association) nor Gold Level have yet responded to inquiries about Rainier Beach’s status in their tournament.
In their most recent game, the Vikings overwhelmed Lincoln of Tacoma 75-53 in the State 3A championship game on Saturday, March 7.
The Throne is marketed as a “national championship.” Rainier Beach is ranked 7th in the country in Rivals.com’s composite rankings (including Massey, MaxPreps, ESPN and Sports Illustrated), 12th by Max Preps, 13th in SI’s Power 25, and 16th in USA Today’s Super 25. At least half of the current field in The Throne is ranked lower than the Vikings in one or more of those polls.
As of this writing, the Throne field includes Calvary Christian (Fort Lauderdale, FL), Sunnyslope (Phoenix, AZ), Plainfield (NJ), Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.), Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, N.Y.), Bergen Catholic (Oradel, NJ), Columbus (Miami, FL), and Heritage (Frisco, TX).
Rainier Beach was listed as the No. 3 seed in the original press release announcement of invited teams. The Vikings also have been touted as an invitee on The Throne’s Instagram account, including a post reminding that only five days remained until the start of the tournament. Beach had been listed as playing Bergen Catholic at 8 p.m. (EDT) on the first day of competition in the knockout event. Both teams no longer are represented on the tournament bracket.
Vikings star Tyran Stokes, a McDonald’s All-American, finalist for several national player of the year awards, and the consensus top senior recruit in the country, has been an obvious marketing focus. His likeness has appeared on at least six posts marketing the tournament.
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