Frank Burlison

SAN DIEGO – I could change my opinion Monday night or anytime between now and March 29.

And maybe my feeling that Los Angeles Loyola is in proud possession of the best high school basketball team I’ve seen this season is never going to change during – or after – the 2013-14 campaign.

I came away from Torrey Pines High Saturday night, following the conclusion of the National Division championship semifinals of the 24^th Under Armour Holiday Classic, convinced that everyone in California will be chasing Jamal Adams’ Cubs from now until the March 29 California State Open Division Championship game in Sacramento.

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SAN DIEGO – It’s officially called the “National Division of the 24^th Under Armour Holiday Classic.

After the first two days of play at Torrey Pines in the top division of the tournament, however, this change in name is suggested:

How about “the Southern California Division”?

Or, more specifically, maybe it should be referred to as “the Southern Section Division”.

Saturday night’s championship bracket semifinals are made up of four of the better teams from the Southern Section of the California Interscholastic Federation (the governing body of prep athletics in the state).

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SAN DIEGO – If you showed up at Torrey Pines Thursday morning at about 9:30 expecting some 13 hours of post-Christmas hoops merriment, you didn’t head home muttering “bah, humbug” – or whatever the basketball equivalent might be.

The first day of the National Division of the Under Armour Holiday Classic promised to showcase some of the better high school teams and players from coast to coast.

It delivered on that promise.

Eight games were played and something approaching four times that many future major college players were on display.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA – Deck the halls – with lot of bouncing basketballs!

That will be the case, post-Christmas with high school tournaments galore.

The following are some of the opening-day schedules I was able to get my mittens on – if mittens were needed in a Christmas “season” in Southern California during which temperatures have climbed into the 80s.

My schedule: I’ll be at Torrey Pines all day on Thursday; La Costa Canyon all of Friday and Rancho Mirage on Saturday.

Monday is to be determined, based upon what transpires Thursday-Saturday:

 

CHAMINADE CHRISTMAS CLASSIC

(Dec.

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LAS VEGAS – There are some, no doubt, who might beg to differ.

But I would suggest that high school basketball doesn’t come any better – or, at least, more entertaining and/or suspenseful – than what was on display in the Bishop Gorman High gymnasium Saturday evening.

I doubt very seriously that anyone in attendance for the Montrose Christian-Findlay Prep and Mater Dei-Bishop O’Dowd games that closed out the second annual Tarkanian Classic would disagree with me.

In the last of the Prep School Division contests, Findlay Prep (based not far away in Henderson) led by double-figure margins most of its game against Montrose Christian (located in Montrose, MD).

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