Boys' basketball: Mission League is clearly the best

There will be some great basketball played over the course of the next three months but the Mission League clearly stands out as the best.

The Marmonte League, the Foothill League and the Delphic League will have close, exciting games but those leagues could pale in comparison to the seven-team gauntlet that is the Mission League.

Loyola has Julian Harrell and Joe Stein and just recently won the Ocean View tournament.

Harvard-Westlake is 3-2 with losses against Compton and Taft. The Wolverines feature Colorado-bound Damiene Cain, junior Josh Hearlihy and freshman guard Michael Sheng.

And just wait until Zena Edosomwan and freshman Derrick Newton get back from injury and senior Danilo Dragovich gets his eligibility from the Southern Section.

Crespi won the Div. IV-A championship last year and has Matt Mounier, Carter Gallo, London Perrantes and Justin Rubia. Football players will be back and make the Celts stronger by Christmas, too.

Alemany has a load of young talent, including juniors Max Guercy and Marqueze Coleman and sophomores K.J. Moffett and Andrew English. Freshman Bear Henderson is a star in the making.

Chaminade features sophomore Jaron Martin, who could go off for 30 points every game and 6'9 Gilles Dierickx isn't bad either. And coach Todd Wolfson always has a scheme against the big boys.

Notre Dame owns victories against Crenshaw and Cleveland. The Knights feature Kennedy Edwards, Jonathan Bell and Antwon Johnson. Coach Bill Bedgood has done a remarkable job turning around Notre Dame after some tough years and losing two key freshman from last year.

St. Francis features Zach Gardea and Emerson Castaneda and has a great victory against Simi Valley.

Enough said.

Mission League basketball.

It will be fantastic.