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LAGUNA NIGUEL – This isn’t going to be a “game-by-game, my pick-by-my pick”-type of NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket overviews.

But . . . here are some observations about the makeup of the 2024 Field of 68, and how I think some things might play out before the April 8 championship game at State Farm Stadium in Glendale (not, no matter how many teams your hear it or read it, “Phoenix”), Arizona.

*First things first: Getting the “pet peeves” out of the way.

1. The four games played in Dayton on Tuesday and Wednesday night are “First Four games” not “play-in games”.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – Southern California’s boys’ basketball Class of 2026 has more “star power” ­– current and future – than any of the region’s other three classes

And, from start to finish of the 2023-24 season, no star shinned any brighter than Brandon McCoy Jr. – especially over the final month.

The 6-foot-5 McCoy capping a terrific sophomore campaign by helping the St. John Bosco Braves win the program’s second-ever CIF State title with a 78-62 victory over San Ramon valley in the Division I final in Sacramento on March 9.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – There were  more than a dozen players in Southern California who started as freshmen for quality high school teams and turned in exceptional seasons.

But only one of them led their squad to a CIF Southern Section championship.

And that’s why Jeremiah Profit of Temecula Valley High is the 2023-24, BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Freshman of the Year.

The 6-foot-5, multi-skilled Profit scored a game-high 18 points with three rebounds, five assists and three steals to lead the Golden Bears past Northview, 53-40, on Feb.

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  LAGUNA NIGUEL –  The Harvard-Westlake High boys’ basketball team wrapped up the 2023-24 season the same way the Wolverines started it ­– sitting atop the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30 rankings.

Coach David Rebibo and his squad (picture, courtesy of Greg Stein, of them celebrating their State Open championship victory over Richmond of Salesian in Sacramento Saturday night) stumbled twice to Mission League foes Notre Dame and Sierra canyon over three nights in January.

But the Wolverines made all the required adjustments and closed with 10 consecutive wins to pick up Mission and CIF Southern Section Open titles, as well as a second consecutive State Open crown to finish 33-3.

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SACRAMENTO – The Harvard-Westlake boys basketball team had to do a lot of digging to pull out its three wins in the past eight nights.

And the kid with the biggest shovel in the gut-crunching wins over Carlsbad, Roosevelt and, finally,  Salesian of Richmond Saturday night in the CIF State Open Division championship game was Trent Perry.

The USC-bound and McDonald’s All-American guard scored the game’s final six points – and came up with a major league hustle play – to lead the Wolverines  to a 50-45 victory in the Golden 1 Center.

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