Frank Burlison

INGLEWOOD, Ca. – The ninth-grade game was anything but competitive.

But, although the team wearing the white jerseys prevailed over its black-shirted opponents, 135-78, in the final game of the event, Saturday’s Pangos Julius V Showcase at Inglewood High proved an ideal vehicle to take a look at some of the best of the very young basketball players in Southern California – and, in one case, beyond.

Julius von Hanzlik did another fine job of assembling some of the best elementary and middle school players in the Southland.

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INGLEWOOD, Ca. – Some of the top elementary- and middle school-aged boys’ basketball players will be on display Saturday morning and early Saturday afternoon at Inglewood High.

Julius von Hanzlik, who has his figurative finger on the figurative pulse of youth basketball in California, is running the five-game showcase event.

Games will tip off at 9 a.m. with players from the Class of high school Class of 2022 (current fifth graders) hooking up in an approximate hour-long contest.

Sixth-graders (Class of 2021) follow at 10, with the Class of 2020 (seventh-graders) competing at 11, eighth-graders (Class of 2019) scheduled at noon and current prep ninth-graders (2018) – some of which are still to attend their first high school classes – wrapping things up at 1 o’clock.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – My “The Best of the Spring and Summer of 2014” selections, Part II:

What follows are the choices for my “All-Class of 2016”, based on the way these guys played over the course of the spring and summer, during the “national” events I watched.

It’s the same deal as with my all-2017 choices (and will be with the all-2015 selections later):

These are not ratings based strictly upon “potential” or how I project them as college and (in some cases) NBA players.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Ready or not, here I go . . .

Here is the first of my three “All-Spring and Summer” teams, in which I list the players from the Classes of 2017, ’16 and ’15 the most impressed me during the “national” events I watched first-hand during the spring and summer.

These are not listings based strictly upon “potential” or how I project them as college and (in some cases) NBA players.

These choices are all about how they played, and how they contributed to their teams’ performances, in the spring and summer.

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LONG BEACH, Ca. – Team Damian Lillard continued its dominance of the 2014 adidas Nations when it mattered most Monday night at Long Beach City College.

It trailed by five points after the first quarter to Team John Wall before overwhelming its opponent over the final 30 minutes of play to cruise, 106-78, in the nationally televised championship game.

Team Lillard, Coached by Ross Burns and Scott Garson, finished 5-0 over the four-day event (the first three days of which were played at the Next Level Sports Center in Garden Grove), never winning by margin of fewer than 14 points.

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