Frank Burlison

THOROFARE, NJ – Twenty-one states were represented by – as would be expected – New Jersey and Pennsylvania players were among those making the biggest impressions Saturday during the first day of the Pangos All-East Frosh/Soph Camp.

Two hundred-plus players were in action at the RiverWinds Community Center, with the athletes spread over 24 teams that played twice apiece.

Action resumes Sunday morning at 9:15, with each team playing once (spread over three courts).

The camp will conclude with two all-star games, beginning at 1:15 in the afternoon and wrapping up about two hours later.

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   La Grange, IL – The balance of high-quality players in the Pangos All-Midwest Frosh/Soph Camp was precisely illustrated by the event’s two all-star games going into overtimes Sunday afternoon at the Park District facility in this Chicago suburb.

But the on-court revelation as to the best player among the 200 or so from 15 states that were on hand couldn’t have been any more emphatic.

Six-foot-seven Omaha Biliew put the wraps on a dominating weekend effort, in which he mostly overwhelmed any and all opponents, by scoring 23 points and grabbing five rebounds while blocking 10 shots in the Top 30 Crème of the Crop game.

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LA GRANGE, Ill. – A year ago, at this same location, then-freshman Jaylen Drane – who had yet to play in a real game at Simeon High in Chicago – was among the best of the back-court players at the Pangos All-Midwest Frosh-Soph Camp.

Fast forward 12 months at The Park District facility to Saturday’s day of the 2019 version of the camp and the obviously has been no stagnation in the 6-foot-2 Drane’s game – quite the opposite, in fact.

Drane (pictured) bordered on the un-guardable during the two games the “Xavier” squad played in the most impressive performance I saw Saturday with 200-plus players spread across 22 teams.

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COLORADO SPRINGS – A likely sizeable chunk of 2020 McDonald’s All-American team was on display over the weekend at the USA Olympic Training Center during the USA Basketball

Twenty-one of the 84 players who showed up (some didn’t play, or were limited in activities, because of injury) are seniors.

Ten of those fellows did a nice job of convincing me that – barring injury or any other calamity – I’ll vote for when I cast McDonald’s All-American ballot

The first and foremost among thing, of course, is Evan Mobley (Rancho Christian in Temecula, CA).

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COLORADO SPRINGS – Saturday’s Day II of the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Minicamp is in the book after several nifty individual match-ups – and a spectacular sequence by one of best guards in the Class of 2020.

Six-foot-four Josh Christopher (Mayfair High in Lakewood, CA) provided the latter in an evening session scrimmage in the U.S. Olympic Training Center’s Sports Center 2 gymnasium.

Another like-sized and California-based guard, Jalen Green (Prolific Prep in Napa by way of Fresno), did his usual “dang, it’s like he’s bouncing on a trampoline!”

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