Pack your shades, basketball fans. The star power in Cullman’s gymnasium Tuesday night is going to be extremely bright.

The big names in a highly anticipated opener featuring last year’s best local boys rivalry are seemingly endless. For the Bearcats, there’s Lawson Schaffer, Seth Swalve and Brontae Harris. For Holly Pond, there’s Austin Smith, Cody Jones and Matt Cahoon.

Put all those players together on one court, and it’s easy to predict a winner — the spectators.

Every seat should be filled as Schaffer and Swalve grease up the “Fast32” machine that took the state by surprise in 2013-14. Cullman is a newbie on the Class 6A hoops scene — and so is Harris, whose addition legitimately gives the Black and Gold a trio of All-State contenders.

Chase Slocumb and Jason McAfee shouldn’t be counted out, either. Both have a full season under their belt in coach Bobby Meyer’s run-and-gun system, which requires meaningful contributions from the entire roster.

Colby Adams and Gunter Morris set a torch to some of Holly Pond’s all-time scoring records but left the cupboard far from bare before graduating last spring. Seniors Smith and Jones have been crucial to the program’s recent state and regional runs, and Cahoon is the clear centerpiece in a promising sophomore class that briefly showed what it can do on the big stage a season ago.

Drew Jones, Bailey Smith and Dawson Foust are among Cahoon’s other accomplished cohorts earning permanent promotions following a nearly perfect junior varsity campaign.

The battle of BFFs on the girls side will have to wait until later in the winter as Cullman senior Baylee Johnson inches ever closer to returning from an offseason ACL injury. Holly Pond standout Meg Gambrill is good to go right now, though, and is hungrier than ever after consecutive appearances in the 3A state championship, not to mention the summer’s North-South All-Star game.

Junior Melissa Clingman has slowly but surely developed into one of the area’s more exciting players, and Kaitlyn Stephens and Abby Gambrill will bring senior leadership to a Lady Bronco squad missing Rachel Finley and Natasha Holcombe. It’s only a matter of time before Ruth Horton and Taylor Tankersley become household names at the varsity level, too.

With Johnson on the bench for the time being, Lady Bearcat supporters will get their first look Tuesday at her future replacement in Anna Bowden. Coach Jonathan Hayes was high on the freshman during the preseason and described her as a hard-worker who’s “kind of taken the Baylee track.”

Senior Oakleigh White isn’t one to be taken lightly on the boards, and Christina Skinner, when healthy, has proven more than capable of putting up sizable point totals. Freshman Anna Evans and sophomore Sierra Easterwood were also pleasant surprises during Cullman’s weekend stay in Panama City for a Tip-off Tournament.

Though the Bearcats and Broncos will be in the spotlight when they collide on Tuesday, there are plenty of superstars worth celebrating all around the county. Here’s a look at five boys and five (and a half) girls to keep an eye on this winter:

Boys

% Triston Chambers, Cold Springs

% Xavier Malcom, Hanceville

% Ryder Jones, West Point

% Josh Freeman, Cold Springs

% Lance Stanley, Vinemont

Girls

% Caitlyn Hall, Cold Springs

% Emme Willoughby, Cold Springs

% Mallory Walker, West Point

% Taylor Ann Yeager, Fairview

% Celest Whisenant/Kaylee Maddox, Good Hope