Frank Burlison

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – The 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament – aka, “Can anyone beat Kentucky over the next three weeks” – tips off Tuesday night in Dayton two of the “First Four” games.

And let me dispense with a pet peeve: The Tuesday (Manhattan-Hampton and Mississippi-BYU) and Wednesday (North Florida-Robert Morris and Boise State-Dayton) games in Dayton are “First Four” or “First Round” games, not “Play-In” games.

Those eight teams are not trying to “play their way” into anything – they are already part of the NCAA Tournament’s 68-team field, every bit as legitimate NCAA tourney participants as are the teams that will played for the national championship on April 6.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – The first 2015 CIF Southern Section Open Division playoff game doesn’t tip off until Thursday night at 7 o’clock.

But here is a first look at what the field might look 12 months from now.

One note: If Ethan Thompson returns to Bishop Montgomery for his junior season (instead of possibly re-locating with his family to Corvallis, where his father is an assistant coach at Oregon State), then certainly the Knights will be strongly in the hunt for a return to the Open Division.

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SANTA ANA, Ca. – To beat a Mater Dei High basketball team, especially within the walls of the program’s snazzy Meruelo Athletic Center, an opponent is best advised to bring its “A game” – and then some.

The L.A. Fairfax Lions brought a 25-0 record into the building for the end of a nine-game Saturday schedule of the 20^th Nike Extravaganza.

But Coach Harvey Kitani’s club was well short of “acing” its performance against the Monarchs – most especially on the offensive end of the floor.

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SANTA ANA, Ca. – It was touted as one of the most intriguing of matchups among the 12 boys’ hoops games set to be played over the two-day, 20^th Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei High.

And the Friday night clash between Mouth of Wilson (VA) Oak Hill Academy and Chatsworth (CA) Sierra Canyon certainly handled all of those expectations quite well, thank you very much.

Oak Hill (27-0, with one of those victories coming as a forfeit by Memphis Hamilton for use of an ineligible player) seemed on the verge of pulling away from its Southern California opponent a few times, including with just a bit more than two minutes to go while holding an eight-point advantage.

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SANTA ANA, Ca. – Based upon some of the matchups on hand, the 20^th version of the Nike Extravaganza, hosted by Mater Dei High, could rival some of the best of the first 19.

Four games (including a girls’ clash) will be played on Friday, with Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson) – currently top-ranked nationally – taking on one of the best teams in California in Chatsworth Sierra Canyon at 7 o’clock.

Among the Oak Hill Academy standouts are McDonald’s All-American Dwayne Bacon (who signed with Florida State in November) and point guard Terrence Phillips, who committed to the University of Missouri recently and is the brother of Detroit Pistons’ standout Brandon Jennings.

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