Want to see the future of college hoops? You don’t need a crystal ball, although it might help if you have a liquid crystal TV. No, alll you need is basic cable. The greatest showcase of high school talent, the 2008 McDonald’s All-American Game, will be televised Live Thursday on ESPN at 9:00pm. So buck up. The Trojan season may be over, but you don’t have to wait six months to see USC commit/Dunk-Champ Demar DeRozan, the #2 prospect over-all. He’s #24 playing for the West team. You’re most likely to find him hanging from the rim.

And you’ll get a good idea of the talent coming to the Pac-10 too. In addition to DeRozan, the West team showcases Michael Dunigan (Oregon), Brandon Jennings (Arizona) and Jrue Holiday & Malcom Lee (UCLA). With top talent like that flooding in to the already deep Pac-10, next year is set to be another season of highly contentious conference battles.

Breaking News: On a side note, minutes ago the Contra Costa Times posted, then immediately deleted an article saying Cal has fired basketball coach Ben Braun. We’ll keep an eye out for developments.