Frank Burlison

ORANGE, Ca. – Fall League basketball, of the high school variety, was in full bloom Sunday at Orange Lutheran High.

“The LEAGUE” – hosted by Orange Lutheran and Westminster high schools, coordinated by the Compton Magic organization, sponsored by adidas and, yes, worthy of its all-caps spelling – made its 2016 debut Sunday.

And those in attendance got up-close looks at some of Southern California’s better teams – and players – for the 2016-17 “regular” season that doesn’t debut until Thanksgiving Week.

Highlighting the action at Orange Lutheran was a couple of games involving four teams that almost assuredly can be penciled in a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Division Open Division playoff squads come mid-February.

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NORWALK, Ca. – I can’t account for all of the grade point averages or Advanced Placement Classes enrolled in by players who attended the Saturday-Sunday High Academic Fall Showcase/King of Kings that was put on by Julius von Hanzlik and the Ryan Silver-fronted West Coast Elite program at Cerritos Community College.

But I didn’t need to examine any transcripts to know what kind of basketball futures some of the 150-plus players on hand possess.

There were impressive prospects from each of the four high school classes in attendance but it was the freshmen and sophomore classes that were especially well-repped at the event.

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NORWALK, Ca. – The first stop on the 2016 national Pangos All-Frosh/Soph circuit wrapped up Sunday afternoon at Cerritos Community College, with many of the West’s best in the Classes of 2019 and ’20 on display in a couple of all-star games.

And, after a few hours of deliberation after watching the 180-plus players in action, I’ve pared what I saw over Saturday and Sunday into my perspective on the “Best of the Best” at the event.

Both my top sophomore and top freshman selections could have easily been co- or even tri-selections in each category.

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NORWALK, Ca. – Six states were represented among the 180 or so players who were in attendance during the opening of the two-day Pangos All-West Frosh/Soph Camp at Cerritos College Community College.

But it was the Los Angeles Fairfax High program whose players made the most significant impact on the proceedings Saturday night.

Six-foot Ethan Anderson and 6-4 Robert McRae, who turned in strong performances as freshmen last season for the Lions, and 6-7 Kirk Smith – who transferred to Fairfax from a Los Angeles charter school in the summer – were each outstanding Saturday night.

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Trying to designate “most outstanding players” at an event which featured a whole lot of those was quite a task Sunday evening at Rancho Solano Prep following the conclusion of the two-day West Coast Elite/Arizona camp in this suburb of Phoenix.

But, anyway, it had to be done, so – with the help of Gregg Rosenberg of Rivals.com – here goes:

*Grabbing MOP honors for his play during the Top 40 All-Star game was 6-foot senior Elijah Mead (Phoenix Camelback), who scored 24 points to help his team to an 80-69 victory.

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