When Notre Dame boys basketball coach Paul Unterreiner looks at the top four seeds in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, each team appears on equal footing.
Sure, the seeds are different, but there isn't much separating the squads. Unterreiner isn't the only area coach that sees talented teams scattered across the field. To Meadow Heights headman Corey Brownsberger this year's Christmas extravaganza is "one of the more balanced tournaments" he's seen in his four years coaching in the event.
Those theories will be put to the test starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday, when top-seeded Cape Girardeau Central opens the tournament with a first-round matchup against No. 16 Bell City at the Show Me Center. The 2017 edition will continue Wednesday, before a one-day break Thursday. It picks back up again Friday and concludes Dec. 30.
"It'll be interesting. I think the top four seeds are pretty equal in all honesty," Unterreiner said. "I think it's going to create a fun tournament to watch, and I think there's going to be a lot of people looking for those five, six, seven, eighth-seeds to maybe upset somebody and create a little excitement in the tournament."
Unterreiner's Bulldogs grabbed the second seed after beating No. 3 Charleston, the reigning tournament champion, and No. 4 Jackson in the SEMO Conference Tournament. Central is the top seed, for the first time in coach Drew Church's 12-year tenure.
"You're looking at Charleston that returns everybody from last year and maybe they haven't found their groove, but I'm telling you, they're just as good as anybody in the area," Unterreiner said. "And Jackson is the most talented team probably in the area, and Cape Central, you're not going to find a team that plays harder than them. It looks like parity, but in all reality I think those three schools are loaded and ready to go."
The quality doesn't drop off after the top four teams, though the schools get smaller. Oran is the fifth seed, after pushing Charleston to the brink in last year's quarterfinal and eventually winning the Class 2 state championship.
Advance turned heads last year by advancing to the Christmas tournament championship before falling to Charleston and brings back last season's Southeast Missourian Player of the Year in Armani Vermillion.
Both schools have lost key pieces from last year's teams but have impressed early this season.
Sitting at No. 7 is Meadow Heights, which was undefeated until Chaffee beat them on Tuesday. The Red Devils happen to be the ninth seed and have a first-round matchup against perennial small-school power and eighth-seed Scott County Central, who is trying to replace much of its production from last season.
"I think there's several teams that can make a run for the championship, not just your big schools, but you look at the Orans and Advances and Meadow Heightses of the tournament that you think might be able to make a run for it," Unterreiner said. "I think Oran's and Advance's year last year speaks for themselves, but Meadow Heights is off to a good start as well."
First, those teams have to make it through their first-round matchups, which for Meadow Heights includes a third game this season against No. 10 Delta. Meadow Heights won the first two encounters.
"It's tough because not only is it a team you're playing three times already in the first month of the season, but it's a good team," Brownsberger said. "Everybody probably looks at Delta and says, 'Oh, it's Delta.' This is not the same Delta team you've been used to seeing the last three or four years. This is a hungry group."
Coming in at No. 11 is a resurgent and youthful Oak Ridge team, which faces Advance in the first round.
With such a deep field, Brownsberger, like Unterreiner, expects an exciting tournament.
"From top to bottom this is one of the more balanced tournaments that we've had, at least in the four years I've been in this area," Brownsberger said. "I think there's a lot of teams, especially five through 10 (seeds), five through 11 (seeds), that are pretty evenly-matched and could make some hay in the tournament depending on who's playing well at what given time."
The top four seeds may be the favorites, based on seeding, but Advance's run last year has given other teams hope. It was the first time since 2006 a team not named Cape Central, Charleston, Jackson, Notre Dame or Scott County Central was in the championship.
"Obviously, the top four schools are always going to be four of the better schools when you talk about the Charlestons, the Cape Centrals, the Notre Dames, Jackson," Brownsberger said. "But I think one of the things last year with Advance making the run that it did it kind of gave some of the smaller schools a little bit of something to look forward to. If we're playing well, we can make a run at this thing."
It all gets underway Tuesday. By that point, Unterreiner hopes to have Carter Dame back. A returning starter for the Bulldogs, Dame hasn't played since Dec. 1 due to a broken toe.
His potential return just adds to the intrigue.
"Nothing is going to surprise me this tournament," Unterreiner said. "It wouldn't surprise me if the big schools struggle a little bit, and the small schools hang around and maybe upset a team or two. It wouldn't surprise me if the Capes, Jacksons and Charlestons of the world kind of show people why they're ranked ahead of (the small schools)."