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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – College hoops of the 2015-16 get underway in earnest on Friday, with things really kicking into pre-conference gear on Tuesday night in Chicago.

The United Center will offer up a double-header that will tip at 7:30 (ET) with Kentucky against Duke, following at about 10 or so by Kansas and Michigan State.

That would be a heck of a set of semifinal match-ups on Final Four Saturday (April 2) in Houston, wouldn’t it?

A look at my choices for the teams that will be playing into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament this spring:

 

1. MARYLAND

Why: Plenty of key returnees from what was the second best Big 10 team during the regular season plus three terrific newcomers equal a solid choice to win the conference and get to the Final Four.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – The latest fall round of national Pangos All-Frosh/Soph Camps once again did what its predecessors accomplished so succinctly:

A hefty portion of the nation’s top first- and second-year high school players were able to show off their considerable skill and “upside” during stops in Norwalk, CA (West), Lewisville, TX (South), LaGrange, IL (Midwest) and Thorofare, NJ (East) that were run by the founder of the Pangos Camp (including the Pangos All-American Camp held in late spring in Southern California annually), Dinos Trigonis.

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DENVER – The fourth West Coast Elite High School Camp, held at Manual High in Denver on Sunday, provided the perfect venue and opportunity for NCAA Division I coaching staffs to get a first-hand look at some of the best hoops talent in Colorado.

The only problem with my premise, of course, is that the event wasn’t held during one of the “live” evaluation periods – for non-high school-sponsored events – that the NCAA certifies in April and July.

Those in attendance (mostly parents, high school and club coaches, event organizer Ryan Silver and his staff, and assorted talent evaluators – including yours truly), though, had the opportunity to peruse a lot of players who already are, or will be, targeted by a lot of college recruiters.

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DENVER – This city is home to one of the oldest high schools in America as Manual High School opened its doors in 1892.

But for all of its historical elegance, the school’s gymnasium played host to some of the region’s very best of some of the youngest hoopsters of the latest generation.

Saturday’s Day I of the weekend’s 4^th West Coast Elite/Denver Camp featured middle school players from in and around the city.

Although there wasn’t an abundance of size on hand with just a half-dozen of the approximately 70 players in the camp checking in at six-feet or taller there were a lot of quality guards and forwards.

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THOROFARE, NJ – The Pangos All-East Frosh-Soph Camp was wrapped up Sunday afternoon at the RiverWinds Center with its Top 30 All-Star Game culled from the 200 or so players who competed in the two day event.

And, although several players were outstanding in the final contest, it was just as noteworthy for the guys that didn’t play in it as it was for those that did perform in the game that was won by the squad wearing white jerseys, 125-116.

For example:

*Three freshmen from the Team Rio travel program, Scotty Lewis, Cole Anthony and Bryan Antoine, were locks to play in the Top 30 Game after superb efforts on Saturday.

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