Alabama’s premiere high school basketball tournament is back for the third year. The Steel City Invitational has quickly become the state’s top prep basketball event, featuring some of Alabama’s top teams and players competing in a three-day, four-round bracket-style tournament.

This year, 12 teams will compete for bragging rights. The field includes four state championship-winning teams from last year, plus another five teams that competed in the Final Four. The event will be Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday at Samford University.

Ramsay, Pelham, Hoover, Woodlawn, Jackson-Olin, Homewood, Bessemer City, Sacred Heart, Faith Academy, J.O. Johnson, Madison Academy, and Mountain Brook will all compete for the infamous Steel City trophy. With the top teams come the top players, too.

Over twenty players ranked in the HoopSeen Alabama 2016 and 2017 rankings will be participating in the event. Michigan State signee Josh Langford and UAB signee Javien Williams, along with five-star junior John Petty highlight the top players.

“Our goal is to get the top teams and top players in the state to make the Steel City Invitational the single-best tournament in Alabama for student-athletes and coaches,” Chris Nix, Chief Development Officer of Knight Eady, told HoopSeen.com.

Here’s everything to watch for during this year’s Steel City Invitational…

TOP PLAYERS: Josh Langford (Madison Academy/Michigan State), Javien Williams (Woodlawn/UAB), Brandon Wright (Ramsay), A.J. Luke (Ramsay), Kobe McClain (Ramsay), Alex Reese (Pelham), De’Nigel Scruggs (Jackson-Olin), Trey Jemison (Homewood), Micah Fuller (Bessemer City), Kevion Nolan (Sacred Heart), DJ Heath (Sacred Heart), Diante Wood (Sacred Heart), Josh Hill (Faith Academy), RJ Mhoon (Faith Academy), John Petty (J.O. Johnson), Justin Hopkins (J.O. Johnson/Samford), Jack Kline (Mountain Brook), Trendon Watford (Mountain Brook).

MATCHUPS TO WATCH FOR: Let’s be honest, this is the best tournament Alabama has to offer prior to the state tournament. All of the games are expected to be good, but I have a couple of potential matchups circled.

The first is Bessemer City-Sacred Heart. This game will be all about the guards, and both programs have quality backcourts. Micah Fuller, De’Ederick Petty, and Carlos Bell will go head-to-head with DJ Heath, Kevion Nolan, and Diante Wood and it’s safe to say whichever group performs best will come out with the victory. The winner takes on Mountain Brook, and that is a whole other matchup in itself. Bessemer City has already defeated the Spartans this season, as they beat them at the Capstone Classic at Thanksgiving. Sacred Heart defeated Spain Park, Mountain Brook’s hated rival, in a matchup a few weeks ago.

Another potential matchup to watch for is Woodlawn-J.O. Johnson. Woodlawn will have to beat Hoover in the first round on Saturday to force the matchup, but Javien Williams and John Petty going up against each other doesn’t sound bad, right?

SATURDAY SCHEDULE:

9:00 a.m. Ramsay vs. Pelham

10:30 a.m. Hoover vs. Woodlawn

12:00 p.m. Jackson-Olin vs. Homewood

1:30 p.m. Bessemer City vs. Sacred Heart

3:00 p.m. Faith Academy vs. Winner of Ramsay/Pelham

4:30 p.m. J.O. Johsnon vs. Winner of Hoover/Woodlawn

6:00 p.m. Madison Academy vs. Winner of Jackson-Olin/Homewood

7:30 p.m. Mountain Brook vs. Winner of Bessemer City/Sacred Heart