Competition seriously lacking in Atascadero tournament

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You won’t find any powerhouse boys’ basketball programs in this week’s 43rd annual Atascadero Christmas Classic way up North. There’s no teams ranked in The Times’ Top 25 preseason poll. No Fairfax or Taft. No sign of Compton or Campbell Hall either.

In fact, there’s not a single team in the tournament field with more than five victories through the first three weeks of the season. Just one team, Templeton, has a winning record at 6-2. And Lompoc has managed a mere three wins in 10 games thus far. Ouch!

One of the more interesting matchups, if you want to call it that, takes place Friday between Paso Robles and Santa Maria in a battle of teams attempting to reach the .500 mark for the first time this season. The games must go on, I suppose, regardless of wins and losses.

-- Sean Ceglinsky