The beginning of winter break throughout school districts in Arizona is a sign of two things.

We’re in the thick of the holiday season and some of best tournaments in the nation are right around the corner.

In a little over one week, dozens of the top programs in the nation will descend upon the East Valley throughout multiple high schools and compete in the prestigious Hoophall West tournament as well as the Nike Tournament of Champions.

Other local tournaments such as the Judy Dixon Classic at Greenway, the Charger Shootout at McClintock, and the Visit Mesa showdown highlight the post Christmas feast of games that’ll take place.

With these tournaments comes the unofficial halfway point of the season and the start of dozens of premier transfers becoming eligible for different programs.

It’s the ultimate jolt of energy for some programs who’ll look night and day in these events compared to the start of their seasons.

With still a small sample size of games, head to head still carries a lot of weight, but quality wins and strength of schedule still plays a factor in how these rankings are generated. Quality losses are a discussion point as well.

These rankings aren’t a reflection of what players teams have or are waiting on to become eligible but rather what teams have done to this point. If a player can be the difference between a team entering the holidays ranked No. 10 and being ranked higher in the future, that’ll be reflected once that player plays and impacts the game. Until that happens, what a team has done with what they’ve had to this point reigns supreme.

6A – Can anyone compete with Millennium and Sunnyslope?

Ranking	Team
1.	Millennium Tigers
2.	Sunnyslope Vikings
3.	Mesa Jackrabbits
4.	Highland Hawks
5.	Chandler Wolves
6.	O’Connor Eagles
7.	Basha Bears
8.	Higley Knights
9.	Brophy Broncos
10.	Pinnacle Pioneers

There’s been plenty of shuffling throughout 6A to start the season outside of the top two teams who have been locked in those spots and baring a collapse against in-state competition will not move from those spots. As players becoming eligible, teams such as Basha and O’Connor may trend upward but the key will be can they be successful against teams who have continuity such as Highland, Mesa, and Chandler.

5A – Central leads the way, but parity reigns below

Ranking	Team
1.	Central Bobcats
2.	Willow Canyon Wildcats
3.	Campo Verde Coyotes
4.	Mountain Pointe Pride
5.	Centennial Coyotes
6.	Carl Hayden Falcons
7.	Cienega Bobcats
8.	Verrado Vipers
9.	Chaparral Firebirds
10.	Ironwood Eagles

Central and Willow Canyon have been the only guaranteed teams in 5A to start the year as similar to 6A, the deck continues to shuffle. Campo Verde picked up a massive win over Mountain Pointe and Carl Hayden has played one of the tougher schedules in the conference so far. Ironwood has played a tough schedule as well and has been holding on for Dewey Henry to become eligible. Centennial in year one under Zach Hettel looks much improved having already scored key wins over Liberty and Verrado.

4A – No movement at the top, but new teams beginning to enter the fold

Ranking	Team
1.	St Mary’s Knights
2.	Deer Valley Skyhawks
3.	Arcadia Titans
4.	Saguaro Sabercats
5.	Cactus Shadows Falcons
6.	Westview Knights
7.	Dysart Demons
8.	Sahuaro Cougars
9.	ALA Queen Creek Patriots
10.	Estrella Foothills Wolves

4A has been consistent to start the year as the preseason top five hasn’t changed at all. Westview was a preseason top ten team but has worked their way up to No.6 and have gotten better as the season has gone on, region opponent Estrella Foothills has been a surprise and it started in November when they picked up a key victory over Desert Edge. The key will be after winter break when region play begins and four of the top five teams will face off night in and night out.

3A – Valley Christian leads the way, but is there truly a large gap?

Ranking	Team
1.	Valley Christian Trojans
2.	Ben Franklin Chargers
3.	Seton Catholic Sentinels
4.	Coolidge Bears
5.	Pusch Ridge Lions
6.	Palo Verde Titans
7.	Yuma Catholic Shamrocks
8.	Gilbert Christian Knights
9.	Northwest Christian Crusaders
10.	Thatcher Eagles

Death, taxes, Valley Christian at the top of 3A. Some say those are the guarantees of life, but for the first time in quite some time, the Trojans appear slightly more vulnerable than before. A large part of that has been their challenging schedule and a region that appears tougher than in previous seasons. To hold that spot it’ll be a tougher challenge but until someone can do it, it’s their spot to hold. Beneath them, Ben Franklin leads a group of 4-5 teams that possess the ability to beat anyone in 3A on any given night as Seton, Coolidge, Pusch Ridge, and Palo Verde appear as complete teams in that middle tier with Yuma Catholic, Northwest Christian, and Gilbert Christian not far behind.

Overall Top 10 – How much movement will happen during Winter Break?

Ranking	Team
1.	Millennium Tigers
2.	Sunnyslope Vikings
3.	St Mary’s Knights
4.	Central Bobcats
5.	Willow Canyon Wildcats
6.	Mesa Jackrabbits
7.	Highland Hawks
8.	Chandler Wolves
9.	O’Connor Eagles
10.	Basha Bears

To this point, we’ve seen some top 10 showdowns and we’ve seen some teams falter against tough competition and others rise to the level needed. The big key will be to see just how much movement happens in the next couple of weeks as players become eligible and teams gain strength and depth.