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NEWARK, Ca. – Those who hung out in the Newark Memorial High gymnasium for nearly 12 hours on Saturday were paid off over the final 2 ½ of those, big time, for the effort spent.

And it’s difficult to imagine a more scintillating beginning to a high school basketball season than was offered up by the sixth NorCal TipOff Classic.

Event CEO Gerry Freitas knew he had assembled a nifty seven-game field for the annual event which serves as a proper way to get the hoops season – boys’ style – off and running in the Bay Area.

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LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Friday night’s games in the Global Sports Classic in the Thomas & Mack Center provided more than enough post-Thanksgiving hoops action for those looking to recover from turkey comas.

And, although the major of the 16,000-plus in attendance headed home disappointed, the capper to the even – Oregon’s 83-79 upset of host UNLV – was as entertaining a game as can be hoped for in November.

The 40 minutes of action demonstrated plenty to leave both head coaches pleased about what is in store for their clubs – even if one of them had to endure his first loss of the season.

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ANAHEIM, Ca. – The first day of DirecTV Classic action began with an upset and nearly closed on the same note nearly 10 hours later Thursday night.

Pacific opened things in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena by edging Xavier, 70-67.

Then, in the fourth game of the event, Cal trailed by nine points with about eight minutes to go before digging ever-so-deeply to pull out a 73-70 victory.

On a night when Cal standout Allen Crabbe was held to two points in the first half (he came through with 13 after intermission), backcourt mates Justin Cobbs and Brandon Smith came through down the stretch to help Crabbe mount the comeback.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – And here it is . . . the first BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25 of the season.

I held off until there was a bit of meat on the bones of the 2012-13 season, and so as to not just regurgitate the preseason ratings I did for Lindy’s Magazine.

My top three remains in lockstep with my Lindy’s choices with others adjusted based upon play during the first week-plus of the season.

Look for some major changes, of course, after this week that includes major events in Brooklyn and Lahaina.

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LONG BEACH, Ca. – Anyone out there care to suggest a college basketball program that can lose four players to the first round of the NBA draft and, less than six months later, still have the “look” of a squad capable of playing in the Final Four?

OK, I’ll add “other than the University of Kentucky”  . . .

Bingo!

The North Carolina Tar Heels lost Harrison Barnes, Kendall Marshall, John Henson and Tyler Zeller when they became almost-instant members of the Young Millionaires Club last June.

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