Frank Burlison

DRAPER, UT – A couple of squads with the goods to be among the five or so best high school basketball teams in the west next season hooked up Thursday night – just short of five months before the real seasons tips off.

Timpview (Provo) and Owyhee (Meridian), which will be heavy favorites to win the respective large-school state championships in Utah and Idaho, respectively, late next February, engaged in a game so physical, tenacious and competitive at Juan Diego High that it took two overtimes to decide.

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DRAPER, UT – Some of the best boys basketball programs in the west tipped off Wednesday afternoon during the start of the four-day, seventh Great Western Summer Classic – headquartered at Juan Diego Catholic High in this Salt Lake City suburb with other games (in girls and boys divisions) played at local schools as well.

During its run the GWSC has proven a nifty showcase as to why Utah is home to some of the most underrated high school hoops in the country.

And that will be the case again this week, as the likes of squads from American Fork and Timpview (from near-by Provo) demonstrated Wednesday in victories over Woods Cross and Ridgeline (Millville), respectively.

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LAS VEGAS – Santa Margarita High’s Kaiden Bailey and Brayden Kyman capped a strong three days out of Southern California-based participants Tuesday afternoon during the Top 30 all-star game of the 23^rd Pangos All-American boys basketball camp at Bishop Gorman High.

The 6-foot-3 Bailey, who shared overall camp Most Outstanding Player honors with 6-10 Quinn Costello (The Newman School in Boston), and the 6-8 Kyman combined for 28 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Red jerseys in their 145-133 loss to their blue counterparts.

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LAS VEGAS – The Class of 2027 backcourt continued its collective strong effort during Monday’s second day of the 23^rd Pangos boys basketball All-American Camp at Bishop Gorman High.

With most of the better prospects in their 2026 counterpart – notably, Jordan Smith (Fairfax, VA, Paul VI), Dylan Mingo (Long Island Lutheran) and Ikenna Alozie (Glendale, AZ, Dream City Christian); the latter two were standouts here a year ago – bypassing the camp, a lot of “juniors-to-be” (next season) dazzled Sunday and Monday in front of NBA scouting personnel and multiple McDonald’s All-American voters.

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LAS VEGAS – Some of Southern California’s – and the west’s – best college prospects in the Class of 2026 were among the 23^rd boys basketball Pangos All-American Camp Sunday night at Bishop Gorman High.

The Dinos Trigonis- and Pangos-fronted event – the best of its kind with dozens of McDonald’s All-Americans and NBA standouts about its alumni – tipped off with 100 or so players from across the country (and world).

With the players divided among 12 teams using names of colleges from the Big Ten and Atlantic Coast conferences, game action resumes Monday afternoon at 3 o’clock with each team scheduled to play two games.

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