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HENDERSON, NV – Those of us who follow the boys’ basketball “grassroots” scene closely have known for a while that the Utah Prospects have been one of the elite programs — regionally and nationally – for a good while.

And that point was driven home succinctly — even among those who follow that hoops’ world even peripherally — last Sunday afternoon in Rock Hill, SC, when the Prospects’ 17s squad captured the adidas-fronted 3SSB national title while knocking off Georgia-based Game Elite, 62-52.

There were just a few days to bask in the glow of that remarkable run (which included a 54-51 win over another high-profile program, the Compton Magic, on July) for the Prospects, however, before they were back at it.

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LONG BEACH and ORANGE, Ca. — Thursday was the first day of the first July NCAA “viewing period”, for men’s’ basketball coaching staffs.

And, from my courtside perspectives at McBride High and Santiago Canyon College, it was a productive one.

Many of the coaching staffs of the western-based college programs were on hand to take up-close looks at the players at two events I attended — the BallerTV/Pangos Premier 80 Showcase  and the Cali-Live Summer Showcase (by way of James Johnson’s Hoop Circuit, the Elite Association Hoops, and ACES).

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ORLANDO, FL — The 29^th National Basketball Players’ Association Top 100 Camp wrapped with a marvelous championship game Friday evening in ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Center at Disney World.

Future Montverde (FL) Academy teammates Cooper Flagg and Robert Wright III led the camp’s “Denver Nuggets” club to an 83-80 victory over its Atlanta Hawks counterpart in the final.

The 6-foot-9 Flagg (who transferred to Montverde Academy a year ago after his freshman season at Nokomiss High in New Hampshire) scored 10 points with 10 rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists in the title game.

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GLENDALE, AZ — Sunday’s final day of the fifth annual Section 7 Boys’ Basketball “extravaganza” — my apt one-word description — wraps up with what should be a scintillating “rematch” from a year ago.

Studio City Harvard-Westlake and Miami Columbia — champions from California and Florida in March — hook up in the Powerade Bracket final at 11:45 a.m., on Court 9, in the State Farm Stadium.

Last June, the programs — with much of the same lineup composition as will take the floor — met in a bracket semifinal.

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GLENDALE, AZ — Day II of the fifth annual Section 7 Boys Basketball Weekend has some nifty second round — and potential seminal — matchups on the floor of the State Farm Stadium.

Notable among those is Saturday morning’s 11:45 clash on Court 9 between a couple of teams that could meet in the 2024 California State Open Division title game in Sacramento.

And the game is six days after the hooked up in a marvelous championship game of the first Cali Live in Irvine last Sunday.

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