Smoothie King Classic schedule is here

(logo from wikipedia)

Bradenton Christian's Smoothie King Classic, a 16-team girls and boys basketball tournament, runs from Dec. 28 to Dec. 30 at BCS.
Each team is guaranteed three games. The finals will be played Thursday, with the girls championship slated for 6:30 p.m. and the boys scheduled to go at 8 p.m.
The Panthers won the girls and boys tournaments last year.
Here are the first-round matchups with the area teams in bold.

GIRLS, 12/28
Bayshore vs. Crystal River, 12:30 p.m.
Tampa Alonso vs. Arcadia DeSoto, 3:30 p.m.
Hawthorne vs. Seven River Christian, 6:30 p.m.
Cardinal Mooney vs. Bradenton Christian, 8 p.m.

BOYS, 12/28
Palmetto vs. Braden River, 11 a.m.
Lakewood Ranch vs. Gulf, 2 p.m.
Bayshore vs. Pinellas Park, 5 p.m.
Ilion, N.Y. vs. Bradenton Christian, 9:30 p.m.

Mitchell no longer Panthers' AD

Drew Mitchell is no longer the athletic director at Bradenton Christian.
A graduate of BCS who became the school's athletic director in 2005, Mitchell said Friday he was the victim of budget cuts.
Football coach Allan Gerber takes over as school's new AD.
Mitchell oversaw the school's decision to add football for the '05-06 school year, a move duplicated months later by area private schools Bradenton Prep, Out-of-Door Academy and Saint Stephen's. BCS also added girls soccer that year, as well, and decided to move boys soccer, formerly a fall sport, to the winter.
Under Mitchell, BCS placed fourth in the Florida High School Athletic Association Floyd E. Lay Sunshine All-Sports Awards the last two years, and was ninth in '08.
"I graduated from Bradenton Christian," he said, "and I will always keep it close to my heart."
Mitchell also helped BCS start the Smoothie King Classic in 2007, the area's only girls and boys holiday basketball tournament that drew 16 teams last December.
Mitchell has been hired to teach at Palmetto Charter School, accepting the job after turning down the AD position at Citrus Park Christian.
"That's a stressful job, being an athletic director," he said. "This way, the hours are better.
"Sometimes the Lord has a different path for us to take, and this is it."