Frank Burlison

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Rockets, with a coaching staff fronted by current NBA guard Rajon Rondo, will take a 6-0 record into the Saturday morning start to the NBPA Top 100 Camp tournament on the final day of the 24^th version of the event in John Paul Jones Arena on the University of Virginia campus.

Friday the Rockets knocked off the Bulls (87-64) and then the Heat (83-76) to remain the only unbeaten squad among the 10 camp teams.

Rondo got a terrific offensive performances from junior-to-be forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (Shawnee Mission, KS, Bishop Miege) as he also got from Class of 2018 shooting guards Joseph Wieskamp (Muscatine, IA, High) and Anferne Simons (Orlando, FL, Edgewater).

[Click to continue reading]

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 24^th National Basketball Players’ Association Top 100 Camp reached its midpoint following the conclusion of the Thursday evening session of games in the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena.

And, two days and 20 games into the event, there shouldn’t be much debate as to who the individual standout has been.

Six-foot-nine Simisola Shittu (Burlington in Ontario, Canada by way of Vermont Academy in Saxtons River, VT) was the NBPA Top 100 Most Outstanding player on Wednesday and it was much of the same based upon his two games with the “Warriors” squad Thursday.

[Click to continue reading]

CULVER CITY, Ca. – The first-ever Culver City/Take Flight Summer Spectacular basketball tournament is set for June 30-July 2 at Culver City High.

Sixteen high school programs, including 2017 State Open Division champion Torrance Bishop Montgomery, are scheduled to participate during the three-day event for which the teams will compete in pool play with a guarantee of three games apiece.

The four pool winners will play in semifinals with the winners hooking up in the championship game.

Other programs sending teams to the event are Compton Dominguez; Studio City Harvard-Westlake; Chatsworth Sierra Canyon; L.A.

[Click to continue reading]

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 24^th National Basketball Players’ Association Top 100 high school camp tipped off Wednesday afternoon in John Paul Jones Arena on the University of Virginia campus.

I watched, from start to finish (instead of staggered viewings between contests), four games over the afternoon and evening sessions, meaning I was able to take long looks at seven of the 10 teams assembled from the 110 or so players in the camp.

Guys who clearly stood out, at least to me, were 6-foot-9 Simisola Shittu (Camp team Warriors/Canada by way of Vermont Prep Academy); 6-5 Colby White (76ers/Wilson, NC, Greenfield); 6-5 Cassius Stanley (Warriors/Chatsworth, CA, Sierra Canyon); 6-10 David McCormack (Bucks/Mouth of Wilson, VA, Oak Hill Academy; and 6-5 Jules Bernard (Celtics/Los Angeles Windward).

[Click to continue reading]

NORWALK, Ca. – The three-day, 15^th Pangos All-American Camp wrapped up Sunday afternoon with a couple of all-star games that provided final moments in the Cerritos College spotlight for some of the very best prep high school basketball players in the country.

To paraphrase a question I got asked often over the weekend, “How does this camp compare to some of the others that Dinos (Trigonis, the camp founder and director) has put together?”

A definitive response can’t really be offered up for at least three or four years, when the makeup of several McDonald’s All-American rosters and NBA drafts are etched into our collective consciousness.

[Click to continue reading]