Homewood-Flossmoor basketball’s stature in the high school basketball world is not in question. The boys team won a Class 4A state title last season while the girls advanced to super sectionals. Both programs sent players to power-conference college teams in recent years.
The Vikings want to continue to be an important “spot on the high school basketball map,” boys coach Jamere Dismukes said. To achieve that goal, HJ-F will host one of the state’s premier regular-season events next winter: the MLK High School Invitational Jan. 18-20 with a field that will include some of the top boys and girls teams in the Midwest.
“I think at H-F, we needed our own staple event. Rich Township has the Big Dipper. Benet has When Sides Collide. Mt. Carmel has the Team Rose (Shootout). DePaul Prep has the Steve Pappas (Shootout),” Dismukes said. “We wanted to have our own staple event where we could bring in different teams and different coaches from different communities where they can see everything H-F has to offer.”
It’ll be the second season for the event. Social media posts highlighting the boisterous crowds and high quality basketball, even during an extreme cold spell last season, helped the Vikings expand the 2025 field, Dismukes said. They decided to change the name of the event from the Suburban Shootout to the MLK High School Invitational.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “What is your life’s blueprint?” speech will be played before each game.
The field will include programs including Vashon High School in St. Louis, which won a fifth-straight state title last winter in Missouri. The Wolverines will play DePaul College Prep, last year’s Class 3A Illinois champs.
Also making the trip north from the Gateway City is Chaminade College Prep, a Missouri powerhouse that produced NBA players such as Jayson Tatum, Bradley Beal and David Lee.
“We’re just trying to fill the stands and give the community some really good basketball,” Dismukes said. “Some of these teams would never be seen by South Suburban fans or Illinois fans, in general. We tried to bring in teams like Vashon, who will be nationally-ranked or Chaminade, who will be nationally-ranked. It’s hard for Illinois teams to see teams like that outside of big events like this.”
Some of the top programs from Chicago and the suburbs will be there, too, including Kenwood, St. Laurence, Benet, Thornton Township, Curie Metropolitan, Hillcrest, Romeoville, Joliet West, Lemont, Niles North, Lincoln Park, Peoria and Kankakee.
Dismukes said when H-F was putting together the field, it considered both the history of programs and the potential for interesting, competitive matchups. He said he leaned on relationships gained through his years in coaching.
The hope is next year’s event includes some prep schools, bringing in even more top-flight players.
“Obviously, we want to get as much high-end talent as we can in the building, both high-end talent and really good programs,” Dismukes said. “They bring a lot to the table and put butts in the seats. That’s one of the most important things you can do when you’re putting together a tournament is to just make sure you can get some fans in there.”
The Invite will begin Jan. 18 with the Bolingbrook and Kenwood girls in the first game, followed by the H-F and Rich Township girls. The remaining games will be boys matchups culminating with the Vikings playing Joliet West at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 20.
“Putting on a good show for Illinois high school basketball fans, I think that’s the main goal,” Dismukes said. “Putting on a good show means you have good teams and good coaches, so I think that’s going to allow college coaches to come out and recruit. Girls and boys, a lot of these teams have Division I talent on their teams so they’re going to bring in the college coaches to recruit. (Hosting this tournament) is going to give us a spot on the basketball map.
“But the main point was to give Illinois basketball fans a show, to let them see some really good high school basketball.”