SANFORD - The "boys of summer" has a whole different meaning these days. Where once were images of strapping teenagers striding from sun-drenched brightleaf fields onto the cool green of baseball diamonds, now place pictures of young men running up and down basketball courts.

Baseball still rules American summers, but basketball is definitely a year-round sport.

Members of the high school basketball varsities from both Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill will spend several weeks in June and July crisscrossing eastern North Carolina, playing in at least six different jams, or jamborees -- usually a series of truncated games with running clocks, sometimes culminating in a quick single-elimination tournament, sometimes not.

"I told our guys -- our players and our coaches -- that we always want to win when we step onto the court, but most of these summer games are not about wins and losses," CHHS coach Tod Morgan said Friday. "This is about coming together as a team, building some team chemistry and the type of family bond we want in our program at Chapel Hill."

Morgan was pleased with his team's play in its recent summer games, and he was happy to have the chance to try different sets and defenses from those the Tigers relied on most of the 2008-09 season. "You want to work on these things now," Morgan said. "It's much better to find out now what you want to change or keep than it is to be finding out things in the middle of the season, or a game."

CHHS recently graduated some talented seniors -- Brad Dimac, Steven Moore, Josh Morrison, Travis Williams and French exchange student Caesar Simeoni -- most of whom will be playing next year for a college team. Even though rising seniors James Manor and Chad Berger are spending much of the summer out of town on college visits, Morgan still gets a good look in jams at his next set of leaders.

Last week, Morgan took 15 players on a two-day trip to Wilmington, where they took on Topsail, New Hanover, Clayton, Millbrook, Hoggard and Pamlico in quick succession. Rising seniors Oliver Musalem and Steven Wistner got a good taste of extended court time; Denzel Robinson, Chapel Hill's top returning player, got a chance to shed the post role forced on him by circumstance last season and to run almost full-time at his natural wing position.

In between games, Chapel Hill had time to visit the beach and the USS North Carolina.

Chapel Hill immediately hit the road again for Sanford for another two-day event at Lee Senior, where they were set against Gray's Creek and Middle Creek on Friday and then Southern Lee, Western Guilford and Southwest Guilford on Saturday.

Next weekend, CHHS plays four games in two days at Southern Nash, then the Tigers play July 10-11-12 at High Point Andrews' Jam and then return to town for the annual Jammin' On The Hill tournament July 17-19 at East Chapel Hill.

East Chapel Hill based its tournament on the annual East Coast Invitational in Jacksonville. The ECI has been renown for its combination of up to 18 in- and out-of-state teams playing off in three championship divisions, giving the tournament the feel of a true invitational.

Budget concerns for schools up and down the seaboard have led to an all-Carolina affair for this summer's ECI, July 9-12 at the Jacksonville Commons and Northside High School. East Chapel Hill will be in the same pool at the ECI with longtime intrastate rival Greensboro Dudley, New Hanover, North Mecklenburg and Southwest Onslow.

Contact the Sports Department of the Chapel Hill News at CHNsports@nando.com or by calling 932-8743.