From tomorrow through Monday, the 'Iolani Raiders will be spending their holiday in Bristol, Tenn., at the Arby's Classic boys basketball tournament.

While distant trips have been common for the Raiders, they've usually been to larger areas: Portland, Boston and Italy.

So why Bristol?

The Arby's Classic has been one of the nation's premier high school basketball tournaments for 25 years. It is played in a city of 41,000 people more famous for being located on the border of Tennessee and Virginia, early country music recordings, and home of NASCAR's Bristol Motor Speedway.

But during the Christmas holidays the city's attention turns to high school basketball.

"The atmosphere there is a really big deal," said 'Iolani head coach Mark Mugiishi.

The Arby's is played at Viking Hall on the campus of Tennessee High School, an arena with a 6,000-seat capacity.

"Two years ago in the semifinals we sold out the arena and sold 500 tickets for people to watch the game on a 20-foot screen in our auditorium," said Dale Burns, the tournament's founder and director.

That attendance figure was buoyed by the participation of Brentwood Academy, a private basketball power from Tennessee that featured current Golden State Warriors rookie Brandon Wright and coached by George Pitts, who had previously guided nearby Science Hill High School to two Arby's titles in the 1990s. Still, 'Iolani figures to play in front of several thousand people.

"My main goal was to go to a place where you'd be the main show in town. When you get to the state tournament you need to play in that kind of pressure," Mugiishi said.

Unlike Boston, where a high school basketball tournament would hardly get any attention and a modest crowd, in Bristol it's practically the only show in town. Local colleges such as King and East Tennessee State make sure not to schedule home basketball games in late December. The final has been nationally televised on ESPN2.

"Most people in this area can't wait for (the tournament) to come," said Tennessee High athletic director Paul Pendleton. "It's a Christmas tradition here."

The tradition began in 1983 with Burns, then the Tennessee High head coach, started the tournament looking for ways to promote Northeast Tennessee high school basketball while utilizing his large home court.

Starting by attracting strong programs from South Carolina and Virginia to play local schools (nearby Daniel Boone High School, whose arch rival is fellow former Arby's participant David Crockett High, won the second tournament), the tournament took off in 1986 when national powerhouse Male of Louisville, Ky. won it.

Television promotion and a 1988 championship by nearby Dobyns-Bennett High School in a field that included Male followed, and with it the tournament's prestige.

The Arby's will have teams from four different countries. Dorsey (Los Angeles) will be participating, as will Archbishop Carroll (Washington D.C.). The Raiders will tip off Thursday at 7:30 a.m. Hawai'i time against Toronto's Father Henry Carr, last year's top-ranked Canadian team.

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