Frank Burlison

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Ca. – Eight hours of hoop-di-do at Marina High Saturday during the Southern California Spring Showcase culminated they should have – with the two best teams having at each other.

In a game of “runs”, the Los Angeles-based Elite Prospects Inc. pulled away down the stretch for a 61-56 victory over South Orange County’s Team Eastbay.

Elite Prospects was up by 11 points before the Orange County club scored the final six points of the first half to get to within 31-26 at intermission.

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LONG BEACH, Calif. – If you showed up at Cabrillo High over this past weekend, hoping to see some of the top prep hoopsters from the classes of 2014 through 2016, you shouldn’t have disappointed.

Heck, there was even a player knocking in shots from the Class of 2019 – yes, a current sixth-grader.

Yet, almost more than anything else, especially in the two top divisions (the Invitational and Platinum), players from the Class of 2013 dominated the proceedings.

Now, debating the “should players with no remaining high school or even prep school eligibility be competing in the same divisions with current juniors, sophomores and freshmen” is something for another place with a lot of time to play around with.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA – Before offering a rundown on three days of some very high-quality high school hoops that I witnessed, up close and personal, I’d like to thank the clear sailing I had on the west-bound 22, north-bound 405 and north-bound 605 freeways, as well as my smooth trek east-bound on Alondra Boulevard in Norwalk on Sunday morning,

That mix of freeway good fortune – courtesy the fact that I was traveling during a the narrow window of day and time when such a thing is possible – enabled me to go from the Next Level Sports Complex in Garden Grove to the new-look Cerritos College Gymnasium in Norwalk in about 15 minutes, give or take.

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GARDEN GROVE, CA – Day 1 – or, more accurately Night 1 – of the first weekend of the fourth year of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League got underway at the Next Level Sports Complex in this Orange County City Friday night.

By the way – you read Orange County, didn’t you?

Not Los Angeles County, so why is it being referred to as EYBL Los Angeles instead of Garden Grove or, simply, Orange County?

 I guess the there must be the assumption Los Angeles is the only city in Southern California people outside the region have heard of – or something like that.

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PORTLAND – Andrew Wiggins led the World Select Team to an upside victory over its United States counterpart a year ago during the 15^th Nike Hoop Summit in the Rose Garden.

Based on the way the squad has looked over the first two days of practice at the Trail Blazers’ practice facility, Wiggins and his teammates – none of which played with him on the World club a year ago – could be primed to make it two in a row Saturday night.

A case could be made that Wiggins, who is from Toronto but attended Huntington Prep in West Virginia for two years, is not only the top high school player in the Class of 2013 but also the top individual hoops talent in the world that is not already on an NBA payroll.

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