Frank Burlison

BELLFLOWER, Ca. – It’s the early stage of a 2020-21 Southern California boys’ basketball season that – like much of the rest of life in the COVID-19 era – will be unlike any before.

The biggest reason that’s the case, of course, is – because of the pandemic has been squeezing normal out of the world more than a year – there was no 2020 portion of this season.

But falling infections, hospitalizations and deaths – knocking on the hardest piece of wood available – and rapidly increased percentage of the population that has been vaccinated has led high school sports in the Southland to ease their way back into play.

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The Oregon State and Arkansas teams doggedly dug themselves out of respective 17- and 18-point holes against No.’s 2 and 1-seeded foes Monday night in Indianapolis in NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament “regional” finals.

Ultimately, though, the OSU Beavers – the biggest “surprise” among the teams still playing after the first 60 had been whittled since March 18 – couldn’t keep the Houston Cougars from their vicious assault on their offensive glass and Coach Kelvin Sampson’s club prevailed, 67-61, and earned the first spot in Saturday’s Final Four semis.

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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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