It's basketball fever in the Valley. The Chandler Prep New Year's Classic will be a sight to see.

Chandler Prep Athletic Director Shawn Lytle, who serves as tournament director, said the tournament is the largest high school tournament in the state, comprising of all Arizona high schools.

The tournament features five girl's divisions and one boy's division. The tournament has 80 girl's teams and 16 boy's teams. Girl's divisions include Diamond, Platinum, Silver and Bronze. The boy's category features one division.

"We like to do in groups of 16 to make an easy bracket," Lytle explained. "This year we have five divisions of girls, including Diamond, Platinum, Gold, Siver, Bronze and one bracket of boys."

The three-day tournament, December 27-29, will be played at six different venues and 12 various courts in Chandler and Gilbert vicinities.

The tournament will be played at Higley High School (2 courts), Gilbert Christian (1 court), Ben Franklin (1 court), Chandler-Gilbert Community College (1 court), Lincoln Prep (1 court), Leading Edge Academy (1 court) and Inspire Courts (5 courts).

"Everyone will play one game on Thursday, two games on Friday and one game on Saturday," Lytle said.

Lytle said this is the fifth year he has conducted the tournament at Chandler Prep.

"I've been running tournament's in all sports for 16 years," Lytle said. "The first 11 years I was at Salt River High School and ran tournaments there for all sports."

Lytle said this is the first year for the boy's division.

"The first year we had 16 girl's teams, then we added 16 teams per year," Lytle stated. "This year we have 80 girl's teams and 16 boy's teams."

Lytle said originally he wanted to offer small schools a big tournament atmosphere and it has just grown.

"Now we have 6A through 1A schools playing in our tournament," Lytle said. "I grew up in rural Arizona (Wickenburg) and I know during this time of the year, kids like coming to the city. So might as well give them a basketball tournament to play in."

Teams competing in the Diamond bracket are: Window Rock, Verrado, Rio Rico, San Carlos, Leading Edge, Casa Grande, Tanque Verde, Kayenta Monument Valley, Valley Sanders, Agua Fria, Chinle, Maricopa, Holbrook, St. Mary's, Canyon del Oro and Buckeye.

The Platinum bracket features: Sierra Linda, Cholla, Gilbert Christian, Alchesay, Pusch Ridge, Rock Point, Baboquivari, Cesar Chavez, Valley Christian, Peoria, Fort Thomas, Chandler Prep, St. Michael, Sunrise Mountain, Mogollon and Winslow.

The Gold bracket consists of: Florence, Coronado, Many Farms, Glendale Prep, Pima, Poston Butte, Round Valley, Mountain View, Payson, Higley, Fountain Hills, St. David, Ray, Yuma Catholic, Northwest Christian and North Canyon.

The Silver bracket has the following teams: Immaculate Heart, Tempe Prep, Paradise Honors, Youngker, Globe, Arizona College Prep, Tempe, Arizona Lutheran, Central, Phoenix Christian, American Leadership Academy-Queen Creek, Scottsdale Prep, Red Mesa, Odyssey, Kingman and Ben Franklin.

Teams in the Bronze bracket are: Marcos de Niza, American Leadership Academy-Ironwood, Dysart, Mayer, McClintock, Arete, Greyhills Academy, Bourgade, South Mountain, Gilbert Classical, Chino Valley, Tonopah Valley, La Joya, Carl Hayden, Trevor Browne and Metro Tech.

The boy's division consists of the following teams: Alchesay, Valley Union, Rock Point, Anthem Prep, Rio Rico, Tonopah Valley, Odyssey, Red Mesa, Pusch Ridge, Greyhills Academy, San Carlos, Baboquivari, North Canyon, St. Michael, NFL Yet and Valley Sanders.