MITCHELL — The Hoop City Classic is still on the South Dakota hoops calendar. 

In April, Hoop City Classic Director Ernie Kuyper accepted the general manager position at Murray State University, where his cousin and fellow Mitchell native Ryan Miller is the new head men’s basketball coach. 

Speculation arose as to the future of the Hoop City Classic, a long-time high school and college basketball event in Mitchell. Due to Kuyper’s contract obligations and position with Murray State, he stepped aside from the Hoop City Basketball Club, a youth basketball program in Memphis, Tennessee.  

The Hoop City Classic will continue, but under new leadership — albeit by familiar faces. Emery’s Brad Bartscher and Memphis, Tennessee’s Buffy Kersey, who have assisted with the classic for several years, will take over organizing and directing the event. Kersey is the director of operations for the Hoop City Basketball Club. 

“With Ernie moving onto his position, we are thankful to him and how he has led us in the past,” Bartscher said. “Going forward it won’t be a whole lot different, besides hitting the contacts and relationships Ernie had throughout the nation with his familiarity with the high school teams out there. But he has definitely led Buffy and myself in the right direction to still have contacts and be able to keep the Hoop City Classic built up nationwide.” 

The 2025 Hoop City Classic is Dec. 29-31 at the Corn Palace, while a youth tournament is Dec. 27-28. The Dakota Wesleyan University women’s basketball team will play Northwestern College on Dec. 30, while the complete schedule will be released at a later date. 

Bartscher and Kersey’s duties like inviting teams, lining up sponsors and assisting with team travel remain the same. But just in an expanded role, with each continuing to schedule South Dakota and non-South Dakota teams. 

“I am very excited to have an expanded role with it,” Bartscher said. “Ernie has definitely led us in the right direction to have this ability to do it. We can improve on some things that we’ve been talking about and he has set us up to be able to do that. Working alongside Buffy is great. We have a great relationship.”

The Hoop City Classic (originally known as the Mike Miller Classic) has attracted some of the nation’s best players since its inception in 2010. The event’s main objective is to pit South Dakota teams against national powers, while mixing in a variety of other matchups over three days. 

That will continue. 

“We are going to kind of keep it the same,” Bartscher said. “We are going to work really hard at bringing in some out-of-state teams, with some primetime highlighted Division I prospects, playing some of our homegrown South Dakota kids that have the same type of experience and ability to play against each other.”