Frank Burlison

LAS VEGAS – My Saturday, Day 4, stop on the final NCAA evaluation week for this month was the Cashman Center, home to the adidas Super 64.

It was fitting, I supposed, that the last complete game I watched Saturday night was one of the best I saw all week in town.

Dream Vision seemingly had things well in hand, with a 14-point advantage, in the second half against the Atlanta Celtics in the last of the quarterfinals in the 17s division.

But a rash of turnovers and a few ill-advised shots attempts twisted the momentum and, following one of those turnovers, Braxton Blackwell was fouled and hit both free throws with 38 seconds to go in regulation to put the Celtics, 63-62, with 38 seconds to go.

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LAS VEGAS – Bishop Gorman High was the locale for me for the second time in three tries – eh, NCAA basketball evaluation days – Friday.

I saw a flock of Fab 48 pool-play games – not a Flock of Seagulls, the early 1980s British new wave band that I’m sure has played in town a few times in the last decade or so (apparently it is still hacking out a living with those peculiar hair styles and modern renditions of a handful of hits, including “I Ran”).

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LAS VEGAS – Day II of the NCAA’s third basketball evaluation period of the July is in the books.

And I spent it – Thursday – in the massiveness that is the Cashman Center and its seven-court set up that, in essence, made the place quite a kaleidoscope of sorts for the adidas Super 64.

I’m starting to get a bit groggy so I don’t have the usual energy needed to hack out some witticisms to entertain prior to my rundown on what I watched during a given day.

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LAS VEGAS — The third NCAA basketball evaluation period tipped in force off at 5 o’clock at three major venues Wednesday night, each swarming with college coaches galore.

The Cashman Center (adidas Super 64), Spring Valley High (Big Foot Classic) and Bishop Gorman High (Fab 48) were the gathering points.

My first stop of the period (that wraps Sunday evening at 5) was Bishop Gorman where I watched eight games (split between two adjacent courts in the school’s “main” gymnasium) that were part of the “Fab 48 Tip-Off.”

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ANAHEIM, Ca. – Week II of the NCAA’s summer basketball evaluation period gets underway Wednesday at 5 o’clock.

The Asics Double Pump Best of the Summer – annually one of the better “evaluation events” of the summer – gets underway at 5 p.m. (per NCAA rules) at the American Sports Centers (1500 Anaheim Blvd., in Anaheim just a few blocks from Disneyland and the Honda Center).

The competition wraps up with championship games in four divisions (17 Open; 17 Gold; 16; and 15) on Sunday.

Also opening on Wednesday evening is the Battle at the Beach, held at Redondo High in Redondo Beach (1 Sea Hawk Way), with four games played beginning at 6 o’clock, in the school’s auxiliary gymnasium.

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