Somehow, it doesn’t seem like seven Mel Otero Invitational tournaments have been contested here.

Nonetheless, the eighth annual Otero Invite tips off Thursday afternoon, with host Rio Rancho taking aim at its seventh championship game.

The Rams have won three titles (2000, ’01 and ’03), then were defeated 44-35 by Clovis in 2004 and by Sandia, 40-32, last year. Of course, this year’s Rams squad is what coach Bob McIntyre terms as young.

The outlook for the season, although McIntyre said he doesn’t look at the polls but noted first-place votes were spread out, indicating possibly a wide-open field, is anything but grim.

“Our district is really tough,” he said, noting Cibola at No. 1 and Gallup two spots behind the Cougars.

“I really don’t care where we’re ranked, we’re just trying to get better. If we can get appreciably better, we’ll be where we need to be at the end,” he said, knowing championships aren’t won in November or December, but in March.

“We learned a lot from game one to game two, and we were good enough to win game three,” he added.

His 10th-ranked Rams open the eighth annual Otero Invite at 7 on Thursday evening, squaring off against unranked Los Lunas.

The other first-round matchups are Sandia vs. Del Norte at 1, No. 3 Clovis vs. Aztec at 3, and No. 7 vs. Portales at 5. The Clovis-Aztec game is on the Rams’ half of the bracket.

McIntyre said this would again be a top-notch tourney.

Clovis, the 5A runner-up last season but now without Ebony Bunton, will be tested against Aztec, which won the 4A title last season.

“Las Cruces and Portales — that’s a game that’s going to be a contrast of styles and press,” he predicted, in light of the PHS Rams’ new coach.

“Sandia-Del Norte is a neighborhood game. Del Norte’s improved,” he said. “Sandia is without the (Jane) Kanyinda kid, who had a torn ACL.”

As for his team’s first-round foe, he said, “Los Lunas has got a volleyball kid (Kameo Peña) with good size. She and (Rams forward Ashley) Rhoades ought to match up pretty good. Our guards, too.

“It should be a pretty evenly matched game.”

Of course, McIntyre said the only thing the tournament has lacked in the past was large crowds.

“Tony (Otero) has gone out and got some pretty nice sponsors — Santa Ana Star Casino, New Mexico National Guard — and he goes out of his way,” he said. “There aren’t many tournaments where every kid gets a bag; he fills it with a T-shirt from the tournament, plenty of goodies each player.”

And, he continued, “It runs smoothly — we rarely have any openings. A lot of people have expressed interest (in a spot). The one thing we have not accomplished is the attendance issue — there is some pretty good basketball being played.”

Otero, whose late father Mel is honored with the annual event, takes pride in selecting basketball officials to be honored each year. It’s the only tournament in the nation, he said, where that is done.

“This year, we are honoring three officials: Jimmy Juarez Sr., Ralph Ortiz from Santa Fe and Dynti Romero. Fifty years ago, Dynt and my dad did the boys state championship game, and he worked with Jimmy and Ralph a long time.”

In spite of the fire that halted business at Otero’s Dairy Queen on Southern Blvd., he said he wasn’t about to make the tournament enter hiatus mode.

“We just keep on going … the only thing the fire is going to have an effect on is we won’t have ice cream like we usually,” Otero said.

Ticket prices are $3 and $4.