Frank Burlison

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – To the surprise of no one who paid close attention – even before the start of the seasons – the Gonzaga Bulldogs were proved easily the elite team in college hoops in the 2020 portion of the 2020-21 season.

Coach Mark Few’s club rolled to victories over the No.’s 3 (Kansas), 7 (Iowa) and 10 (West Virginia) teams in the BurlisonOnBasketball “mid-season Top 16”, along while also cruising pass a University of Virginia squad that may be the best in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – John R. Wooden Award selection committee voters had to submit their choices last week for the Top 25 male candidates at the “mid-season” portion of the 2020-21 college season.

My selections, based upon the players’ individual performances and their teams’ accomplishments, are listed below in alpha order.

Not surprisingly, I would imagine, three players from top-ranked Gonzaga – Corey Kispert, Jalen Suggs and Drew Timme – are included.

Later this week I’ll post my “Top 16 teams” and top three “All-American teams” for the 2020 portion of the season.

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If not for the ravages on all walks of life wreaked by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the fifth Classic at Damien would have tipped off Saturday morning at Damien High in La Verne.

And, for the fifth time, it would have been the most competitive and entertaining post-Christmas boys’ basketball tournament in the western portion of the United States.

The 80-team event (five, 16-team divisions) has been re-scheduled – assuming any reasonable return to a sense of “normalcy” –to April 5-10.

The Rancho Christian program – which, led by two-time event Most Outstanding Player and current-USC freshman standout Evan Mobley – opted not to return for this “2020-21 season” after winning consecutive Open (top) Division championships.

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CHANDLER, Az. – Some future Southeastern Conference players came through in a big way Sunday afternoon while leading the South squad to victory over its West counterpart in the championship game of the first-ever Pangos All-American Festival.

And the most notable of those was 6-foot-9 Jabari Smith, no doubt bound for future stardom for Bruce Pearl’s University of Auburn program.

Smith (pictured) – who attends Sandy Creek High in Tyrone, about 30 miles south of Atlanta – scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds to help the South to a 98-89 victory over a West club that included a future SEC player of its own.

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CHANDLER, Az. – Saturday’s overwhelming performance by the Paolo Banchero-led West team, and a terrific close-the-game effort by the South squad, set the table for the Sunday afternoon title game in the first-ever Pangos All-American Festival.

The West vs. South title game is set to tip off at 1 p.m. (MT) at Compass Prep in this Phoenix suburb.

It follows the Midwest vs. East game for third place at 11 a.m.

Because of COVID-19 conditions, no spectators (other than Compass Prep and Pangos staff, coaches and players, family and a few media members) will be in the building.

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