Frank Burlison

I’ve no doubt that Tuesday has a chance to provide Southern California with its best-ever night of men’s college basketball – even if the action is taking place some 2,000-plus miles away in Indianapolis.

I’m a better student of hoops history than most and, yes, the “best-ever night” is a pretty bold proclamation considering that the UCLA program has won 11 national titles – 10 under the man with on-court accomplishments that easily drive home his legendary status, the late John R. Wooden – and played in five other Final Fours.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – As far as “grassroots hoops”, it doesn’t come any better than what transpired on the evening of July 25, 2018 in a packed Bishop Gorman gymnasium in Las Vegas.

That’s when the powerhouses on the “shoe circuits”, Team Takeover (which had bagged the Nike/EYBL Peach Jam title a few weeks earlier the Compton Magic (which had pulled off the adidas summer title in New York) clashed in a powerhouse exhibition as part as the Fab 48 Tip-Off.

“Anyone who was anybody” (or so it appeared) – college coaches, current and future NBA players and “media/scouts” – was on hand, sitting hip-to-hip in the bleachers and the couple of dozen chairs surrounding the court for “celebrity types”.

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MIAMI, Fl. – Among the standouts of the second Pangos Miami Fantastic 40 was a player whose dad is a legendary NBA jump shooter – including with a notable stint with the Miami Heat.

Ray Allen III, a sophomore at Miami’s Gulliver Prep, dazzled over last weekend with the “Florida Lightning” club team that mostly is made up of Gulliver Prep teammates.

His dad – inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2018 after helping the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat win titles in 2008 and ’13, respectively – was the team’s coach as it won its four games over the weekend at the Pangos Fantastic 40.

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A look at the first three days of the most surreal NCAA men’s basketball tournament ever . . .

*The COVID-10 pandemic forced cancellation of the bulk of the conference tournaments, as well as the entirety of the NCAA tourney, a year ago – and pretty much wreaked havoc through the course of the current season.

The abrupt COVID-related conference tourney pull-outs of Duke and Virginia (ACC) and Kansas (Big 12) just days before the 68-team tourney bracket was revealed on March 14 were harsh reminders that – even with the vaccine-induced euphoria of late – the pandemic hadn’t finished its business of destroy the life-long NCAA tourney teams of so many players and coaches, and their schools’ followers.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – If you’ve come here looking identification of potential “pitfalls” in the way of the Gonzaga Bulldogs becoming the first unbeaten NCAA men’s basketball champion in 45 years, you’ve come to the right place.

But don’t I equate “potential pitfalls” with “likely to derail Mark Few’s club before it wins six tournament games in Indiana”.

OK, for the “potential”:

The 26-0 Bulldogs beat four NCAA tournament teams that are seeded 2 (Iowa), 3 (Kansas and West Virginia) and 4 (Virginia), respectively, by an average margin of just less 13 points.

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