Frank Burlison

LAS VEGAS – Four Platinum Division teams will re-locate to a bigger stage – the court inside The Orleans Hotel Arena – for the third Tarkanian Classic semifinals Friday evening.

Three games from within the “Prep Division” begin at 11 a.m. and are highlighted by a 3 o’clock contest featuring two of the elite underclassmen in the country, junior Josh Jackson (Napa, CA, Prolific Prep) and sophomore Jarred Vanderbilt (Houston Victory Prep).

And then the “real” high school action gets underway when Southern California squads Corona Centennial and Redondo Beach Redondo hook up in the first Platinum semifinal at 5, with tournament host Bishop Gorman taking on Putnam City, OK, West at approximately 7 o’clock.

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LAS VEGAS – Wednesday’s opening round of action set the table for some high-powered quarterfinal action Thursday during the Platinum Division of the third Tarkanian Classic at Bishop Gorman High.

That competition gets underway at 12:30 in the afternoon in the school’s “main” gymnasium, with the Southern California matchup of Redondo Beach Redondo Union and Chino Hills.

Redondo (which knocked off Philadelphia Constitution Wednesday, 72-64) and Chino Hills (84-73 over San Diego-based Foothills Christian) played in the California Interscholastic Southern Section Division Open semifinals on March 4.

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LAS VEGAS – A “Platinum” division in which six of the 16 participants won state titles last season highlights the third Tarkanian Classic that gets underway at Bishop Gorman Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 PT.

The event is named in honor of Hall of Fame member Jerry Tarkanian – who coached UNLV teams to four Final Fours and led the Rebels to the 1990 NCAA title, and also guided Long Beach State and Fresno State teams to NCAA tournaments.

Mythical national champion Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei knocked off Oakland (CA) Bishop O’Dowd in the 2013 Platinum finale with the Monarchs also winning the first title in 2012 by toppling the host Bishop Gorman Gaels.

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CHICAGO – Simeon – one of the two host high schools for the event – wrapped up the third Chicago Elite Classic in, well, elite fashion Saturday night at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion to pull away in the fourth quarter for an 87-72 victory over Lancaster, one of the better squads in Texas.

The Wolverines, who were making their season debut while the Tigers (6-3) were into their ninth game, used their impressive depth to great advantage as 11 of the 12 players who got into the game scored, led by Nebraska-bound Edward Morrow’s 22 points.

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CHICAGO – Six teams combined to commit 104 turnovers and hit less than 20 percent from behind the arc (16 of 82) Friday night during the opening action of the third Chicago Elite Classic at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion.

OK, so with those nuggets of ugliness out of the way, on to my rundowns of the three games played . . .

The “Chicago-area” teams batted .500 in games vs. non-Illinois squads Friday, with Westchester Saint Joseph rolling past Redondo Beach (CA) Redondo Union in Game II, 70-54, and Memphis Southwind trimming Chicago Whitney Young in overtime in Friday’s finale, 69-66.

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