Frank Burlison

LONG BEACH – Sunday’s action during the Pangos SoCal Dandy Dozen club team showcase event served to emphatically drive home this point:

Coach Matt Dunn’s St. John Bosco program could put the best team on the floor for the 2020-21 season – whenever, COVID-19 willing, that takes place.

Several of Dunn’s Braves were on display – notably Jeremiah Nyarko, Scotty Washington and Lamaj Lewis – during the five games played Sunday at the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church.

The 6-foot-7ish Nyarko – originally from Ghana – continued to showcase the remarkable progress he’s made since his freshmen season while climbing the pecking order of the best big players in the western Class of 2022.

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LONG BEACH, Ca. – The first “grassroots” Southern California-based boys basketball event of the spring/summer was held at in the gymnasium of the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church Saturday.

The COVID-10 pandemic has all but shut down “sports”, per se, in not only California but pretty much everywhere in the United States – and the rest of the world – since early March.

But reasonable health-related precautions were taken by event coordinator Dinos Trigonis and his staff for the Pangos Best of SoCal Summer Showcase Saturday, notably temperatures taken of each person going into the gym as well as spectators (and event personnel) abiding by the “wear a mask” edict.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – There weren’t six state championship games over March 13 and 14 in Sacramento to solidify this pecking order.

But this will have to do, as Sierra Canyon – based on its 11-1 record against the “field” – sits atop my Top 30 California high school boys’ basketball teams’ ratings for the 2019-20 season.

Three of those wins came against my choice for No. 2 in the state, Etiwanda, with Ziaire Williams’ buzzer-beating jump shot giving the Trailblazers the third of those in the State Southern Regional Open finale on March 10 at Cal State Northridge.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – There are plenty of more pressing things on our collective minds right now, I know.

But, dang, this should be Day III of the NCAA Tournament with the field having been lopped by four after the Round of 68 games Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Dayton.

Yep . . .

Anyway, here’s my BurlisonOnBasketball All-American team for the 2019-20 that will forever be marked with an *asterisk:

Obi Toppin of Dayton is an easy choice the Player of the Year, even the spectacular senior seasons turned in by the three seniors I tabbed among my five-member “first team”.

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NOTE: This is part of the column I wrote very early Friday morning for the April edition of Basketball Times.

 

LAGUNA NIGUEL – When things are back to “normal” – or whatever fits the definition in a post-COVID-19 world – here are some things that NCAA officials and presidents/athletic directors from the organization’s affiliated universities should consider:

*Men’s and women’s basketball players who were “seniors” during the 2019-20 season and whose teams were still scheduled to be involved in conference tournament action upon the shutdown of the season will be granted extended eligibility into the 2020-21 season, with “full-scholarship” status.

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