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Two of the very best high school hoops tournaments in California are taking place within a few miles of one another right now.

The Trevor Ariza Tip-Off Classic, hosted by Westchester High (7400 West Manchester), and “The Tournament”, hosted by Santa Monica High (601 Pico), hold their semifinals Friday evening.

At Westchester, the championship semifinals feature the host Comets against Gardena Serra at 7 o’clock followed by L.A. Washington and Torrance Bishop Montgomery at 8:30.

At Santa Monica, the semifinals get underway at 6:30 with Mission Hills Alemany against L.A.

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A belated wrap-up on what I saw during the first week of the “regular” high school basketball season:

  *The Pacific Shores Tournament (at Redondo High/I attended games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday): It was no surprise that L.A. Loyola and Long Beach Poly reached the final (they were No. 2 and 4 in my preseason SoCal ratings).

I didn’t watched the final but Loyola, after trailing by five points in the first period, built a double-digit advantage late before holding off a Jackrabbits’ rally and winning, 70-65.

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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S TOP PLAYERS
SENIORS

Marqueze Coleman     6-4       Mission Hills Alemany

Grant Jerrett                6-9       La Verne Lutheran

Xavier Johnson           6-6       Santa Ana Mater Dei

Steve Jones                 6-0       Woodland Hills Taft

Katin Reinhardt          6-5       Santa Ana Mater Dei

Chris Reyes                 6-7       La Verne Damien

Victor Robbins            6-6       Compton

Skylar Spencer            6-7       L.A. Price

Eli Stalzer                    6-4       Santa Ana Mater Dei

Nick Stover                 6-6       L.A. Windward

Daddy Ugbede           6-6       Gardena Serra

Aamahd Walker          6-3       Culver City

Dion Wright                6-5       Lakewood Mayfair

Gabe York                  6-2       Orange Lutheran

Zena Edosomwan       6-7       N.

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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’s TOP 10 HIGH SCHOOL TEAMS

1.       SANTA ANA MATER DEI (2010-11 record/32-3)

Frank Says: Coach Gary McKnight has as much depth as he has possessed in a while and he can put five players on the floor at the same time capable of scoring 25 points in any given game.

2.       L.A. LOYOLA (25-6)

Frank Says: A reasonable suggestion can be made that the Cubs should be rated “1-B” to the Monarchs’ 1-A”. They might have better depth than Mater Dei and sophomore Parker Jackson-Cartwright is already the state’s best point guard.

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We’re just three weeks into the 2011-12 college basketball season.

And there is no shortage of teams that, so far, appear much better than many in the national media anticipated.

  Here are some of the most noteworthy of those:

  *Saint Louis (6-0): The Billikens of Coach Rick Majerus were picked to finish third in the Atlantic 10 Conference and be in the hunt for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

But even those who follow that conference on a regular basis could not have anticipated the Billikens being so impressive in November.

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