This year’s 37th edition of the Poplar Bluff Showdown will feature a blend of old and new.
Four new teams — Trinity Christian from west Tennessee, Kansas City Staley (who is receiving votes in Class 6) and a pair of Arkansas schools in Maumelle and Izard County Consolidated — will join five-time Showdown champion Vashon (the No. 1 team in Class 4), the host (and four-time champion) Mules, McCracken County, Kentucky and Urbana, Illinois in the tournament field when it tips off on Thursday afternoon.
Poplar Bluff High School athletic director Kent Keith said he is “really excited” about this year’s Showdown field.
“We feel it was a major coup this year to pull in two Missouri powerhouse programs with Vashon and Staley,” Keith said.
“Added into that is a tradition rich Arkansas program with Maumelle and then two smaller schools in Izard County and Trinity Christian. But when the teams hit the court, you never know what will happen. Small schools can rise up and beat big schools.
“When I was in high school at Tulsa Memorial, tiny New Lima, Oklahoma won our Tournament of Champions, beating national power Booker T. Washington of Tulsa. That is why you play the games.”
Keith has been PBHS athletic director since 2012 and is in charge of his 12th edition of the Showdown since Covid canceled the tournament in 2020.
“I’ve always said I’m just the caretaker of the Showdown,” Keith said. “In a few years when I retire, it will be passed on to the next AD to continue the legacy that the McLane family and Howard Garrett created. … It is a privilege every year to work with the McLane family, Dale Dickerson and Travis Brown to put together the best tournament we can. Our goal is to make the tournament better every year.”
Poplar Bluff head coach William Durden echoes Keith’s sentiments.
“It is a great tournament with a rich history,” Durden said. “As a basketball fan and a coach, I get to enjoy it on two folds. For three games we get to play against great competition and for the rest of the tournament I get to watch some good basketball.”
Over the years, the tournament has featured a list of legendary teams — and players. Several future professional athletes have participated in the Showdown since its 1987 debut, including NBA players Devin Booker, William Avery, Anthony Peeler and Poplar Bluff’s own Tyler and Ben Hansbrough, plus NFL players R.W. McQuarters and Jamaal Anderson.
Amone the elite programs that have played in the Showdown are Vashon, two-time champion Little Rock Parkview (Anderson’s alma mater), Liberty Tech from Tennessee (which featured future Three Rivers Raider Tarius Johnson when it won the Showdown in 2008 and 2009), the aforementioned Booker T. Washington from Tulsa and Louisville Male, which won the tournament in 1995.
“Many of the teams that play in this tournament make deep runs in their respective post seasons, so it gives us a chance to see great teams that we usually don’t get to see,” Durden said.
The Mules tip off this year’s tournament at 7 p.m. on Thursday against Urbana. The Tigers are 3-4 on the season and snapped a four-game losing streak last Friday when they defeated Peoria Notre Dame.
“They are a well-coached team,” Durden said. “They will be athletic and they will play hard.”
Poplar Bluff will face either McCracken County or Izard County on Friday in either the semifinals a7 p.m. (if the Mules win Thursday) or at 5:30 p.m. (if Poplar Bluff loses Thursday). The tournament concludes Saturday with the tournament championship at 3:30 p.m.
So what does Durden believe the Mules need to do to win their fifth Showdown title — and first since 2018?
“We just need to keep getting better as a team,” Durden said. “Our goal is to go out and compete every game. As a staff, if we know our guys are going out and playing as hard as they can, we can go how proud of them.”
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