LAS VEGAS - It's halftime at Rancho High, in the main (as in, large, really neat bleachers and air conditioning that isn't overwhelmingly chilly) gym, with the New England Playaz holding onto a 23-21 lead over the Wedman Pumas team from Overland Park, Kansas.
It's the closest thing to a "real" high school game - with teams playing solid man-to-man defense and trying to execute structured offense - that I've seen in four days of these orgy of travel team hoops.
That's a power outlet under this table, hence, I'm blogging.
I just watched the Compton Magic blow out a team from Utah in a gymnasium across campus, which took me a little longer to get to because the soccer field I was able to cut across diagonally Wednesday and Thursday actually had a soccer game going on just now. Imagine that.
Long Beach State assistant Rod Palmer, watching the Compton Magic game with me, made an astute observation: The Compton Magic has just one player who attends a Compton Unified School District school. And that's junior guard Deonta Burton, who transferred to Centennial in the spring after spending two seasons playing for Cabrillo.
Believe me - there are all kinds of dynamics like that going on in this summer basketball . . . which is why the Compton Magic situation can't be called "peculiar".
Oh, well. There is a day and a half worth of action remaining in the three tournaments. Sorting out which games to go to is getting even tougher.
Back later . . .
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