College Basketball

For a photo gallery of Tuesday's action, click here. For video, click here. College basketball has March Madness. Newport-Mesa has Pilot Cup Fever. The ninth annual Daily Pilot Cup — with a record amount of teams (164) — began Tuesday at Costa Mesa High School and the adjacent Costa Mesa Farm Complex. The tournament for grades third through sixth, features 30 Newport-Mesa schools and more than 2,500 boys and girls vying to reach Sunday’s championship games in the gold, bronze and silver divisions.

Steve Virgen When Matt Jameson was growing up in Newport Beach he dreamed about basketball. He envisioned himself playing college basketball at an NCAA Division I school. The NBA was not a big deal for Jameson. He saw what he wanted in college basketball. And, he worked toward that dream while at Newport Harbor High. "Every kid wants to play in the NBA, but for some reason, I wanted to play college basketball and that was always a dream of mine," said Jameson, who recently graduated from Miami of Ohio and returned to Newport Beach.

Most of the time in basketball, the transition game is important, and when it's performed correctly, it can be a thing of beauty. Coincidentally, in the local sports scene, it is a time of transition and the change is appealing. The last of the college basketball exhibition games loom, but so do the start of the games that count. Meanwhile, the high school sports fall season charges on to the playoffs. That's where the college basketball teams want to be when the regular season ends.

Any team can beat any other team. That sounds like hype or cliche in men's college basketball, yet in the Big West Conference the statement has held true this season. The Wild West Conference has displayed the true essence of college basketball. It's not so much about parity, but it's all about the solid competition. With seven games and then the league tourney remaining, I'm led to one conclusion: The Big West Tournament champion will go deep in the NCAA Tournament, especially if the champ is Utah State, UC Santa Barbara or UC Irvine.

I'm writing this on Tuesday evening. When you read it, I will likely be sitting happily in the Anaheim Convention Center. The election will be behind us, the opening of the baseball season will still be off in the distance, and I will be moving into the real world of college basketball tournaments. In this world, there are no charges or countercharges, no character assassination, no empty promises, no sour grapes. Just performance. You win or you lose.

I’ll be in the Anaheim Convention Center on Wednesday night watching UCI play UC Davis in what is as close as Newport-Mesa will probably ever get to March Madness. Watching UCI basketball has become an almost religious rite for me since 1966 when I went to work in the English Department at UCI. There were high hopes in those early years under Coach Bill Mulligan that have deteriorated steadily over the intervening years as the Anteaters have become the Chicago Cubs of college basketball.

Steve Virgen Family matters for Norm Borucki. He'll admit he's getting up there in age and he doesn't like to talk about that. He has many years behind him, so many wonderful memories from coaching football, baseball and softball at Laguna Beach High and officiating college basketball games, including 10 NCAA Tournaments. So he's old. You won't see a withered man when Borucki talks of his family. "They're first and foremost," Borucki, who did not want to disclose his age, said of his five grandchildren.

Steve Virgen Al Hackney had a rare day off Saturday and he was worried. He's not used to sitting down. The 70-year-old Hackney, a former Newport Harbor High boys basketball coach, is in his 50th year of officiating and one of the main reasons he continues to work is to stay in shape. "This is my first night off in I don't know how long," Hackney said. "I wish I was out working because I know I'm going to gain a pound sitting on this chair." Hackney hasn't slowed down and he's not looking to retire any time soon.

Steve Virgen Times in basketball have changed, but not for Tandy Gillis. He's from the old school and he won't back down from putting his mentality into today's game. Gillis, 62, who coached men's basketball at Orange Coast College and boys hoops at Corona del Mar High, still believes in teamwork, but the modern era promotes the opposite, Gillis says. His promotion of teamwork is a reason he's still coaching as an assistant at Irvine Valley College, though he's actually retired.

Steve Virgen COSTA MESA - In college basketball, including junior college, there are some things that are taboo. For instance, the visiting team should not huddle at center court after starting lineups are announced. When visiting Grossmont College dared to do that huddle on Saturday night, the Orange Coast men's basketball team made the Griffins pay for the penalty. In a game that featured pandemonium, a fast-paced up-tempo style, frenzied fouls, nearly a brawl and the end of the game and a unity of the Pirates, OCC raced to a 98-88 nonconference victory that stemmed from a pregame confrontation.

I’ll be in the Anaheim Convention Center on Wednesday night watching UCI play UC Davis in what is as close as Newport-Mesa will probably ever get to March Madness. Watching UCI basketball has become an almost religious rite for me since 1966 when I went to work in the English Department at UCI. There were high hopes in those early years under Coach Bill Mulligan that have deteriorated steadily over the intervening years as the Anteaters have become the Chicago Cubs of college basketball.

For a photo gallery of Tuesday's action, click here. For video, click here. College basketball has March Madness. Newport-Mesa has Pilot Cup Fever. The ninth annual Daily Pilot Cup — with a record amount of teams (164) — began Tuesday at Costa Mesa High School and the adjacent Costa Mesa Farm Complex. The tournament for grades third through sixth, features 30 Newport-Mesa schools and more than 2,500 boys and girls vying to reach Sunday’s championship games in the gold, bronze and silver divisions.

Most of the time in basketball, the transition game is important, and when it's performed correctly, it can be a thing of beauty. Coincidentally, in the local sports scene, it is a time of transition and the change is appealing. The last of the college basketball exhibition games loom, but so do the start of the games that count. Meanwhile, the high school sports fall season charges on to the playoffs. That's where the college basketball teams want to be when the regular season ends.

Tony Yaghjian has been playing basketball since he was 5 years old, but he never experienced a season like the one he just concluded with the Newport Harbor High boys' basketball team. Yaghjian was the point guard, and at times the go-to guy for the defensive-minded, team-oriented Sailors, who went 21-7 and nearly upset No. 4-seeded Ayala in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division II-AA playoffs last Tuesday. Yaghjian helped engineer a Newport Harbor comeback in the game by playing tenacious defense and with a sense of urgency on offense.

Steve Virgen Al Hackney had a rare day off Saturday and he was worried. He's not used to sitting down. The 70-year-old Hackney, a former Newport Harbor High boys basketball coach, is in his 50th year of officiating and one of the main reasons he continues to work is to stay in shape. "This is my first night off in I don't know how long," Hackney said. "I wish I was out working because I know I'm going to gain a pound sitting on this chair." Hackney hasn't slowed down and he's not looking to retire any time soon.

Steve Virgen It might as well be October for Aaron Bruce, because the 6-foot-2 guard from Australia is ready and anxious to play NCAA Division I college basketball right now. Bruce, who graduated from the Australian Institute of Sport Monday, will play for UC Irvine, pending NCAA clearance. He confirmed such just hours before his graduation ceremony. "Once I'm cleared by the [NCAA], I'm definitely looking forward to playing for UCI," said Bruce, who helped lead Australia to the World Junior Basketball championship last month.

Steve Virgen When Matt Jameson was growing up in Newport Beach he dreamed about basketball. He envisioned himself playing college basketball at an NCAA Division I school. The NBA was not a big deal for Jameson. He saw what he wanted in college basketball. And, he worked toward that dream while at Newport Harbor High. "Every kid wants to play in the NBA, but for some reason, I wanted to play college basketball and that was always a dream of mine," said Jameson, who recently graduated from Miami of Ohio and returned to Newport Beach.

Any team can beat any other team. That sounds like hype or cliche in men's college basketball, yet in the Big West Conference the statement has held true this season. The Wild West Conference has displayed the true essence of college basketball. It's not so much about parity, but it's all about the solid competition. With seven games and then the league tourney remaining, I'm led to one conclusion: The Big West Tournament champion will go deep in the NCAA Tournament, especially if the champ is Utah State, UC Santa Barbara or UC Irvine.

Steve Virgen BREN EVENTS CENTER -- Exhibition games in men's college basketball do not figure into team records or statistics. The games are meaningless in that regard. Yet for the UC Irvine men's basketball team, exhibition games apparently are great for making statements. Anteater Coach Pat Douglass did not start 7-foot center Adam Parada, who was second-team All-Big West a year ago, Friday night when UCI improved from last week and scored a 77-67 victory over Team Ezybonds of Australia in front of 1,075 at the Bren Events Center.

BREN EVENTS CENTER - Mike Efevberha, a 6-foot-4 guard who averaged 25.1 points for Ganesha High last season, has signed a national letter of intent with the UC Irvine men's basketball program, Anteaters Coach Pat Douglass said Wednesday. "Mike is an electrifying scorer who gained recognition throughout his senior season," Douglass said in a statement released Wednesday. "He will be an immediate contributor to our program beginning next season." Efevberha, who also averaged 9.3 rebounds per game, earned first-team All-CIF III-A accolades, after a season that included a career-high 58-point performance in a win over Brea Olinda in December.