During 44 years of coaching high school basketball, including four decades at Fairfax, Harvey Kitani has coached the likes of Chris Mills, Sean Higgins, Solomon Hill, Craig Smith, JD Green and others with size and ability.

Now he has 6-foot-9 sophomore Nick Welch Jr. at Rolling Hills Prep.

“I think he can be just as good as a lot of those guys,” Kitani said.

Rolling Hills Prep is playing at Corona del Mar on Friday in a second-round game of the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs. Welch continues to make steady progress.

“You can’t coach height,” Kitani said of what separates players with size.

Welch’s father, Nick Sr., was a standout at Air Force, earning co-Mountain West Conference player of the year honors in 2004.

Nick Jr. is 16 years old and still growing.

“He’s probably one of the best kids attitude wise I’ve ever coached,” Kitani said. …

Here’s the link to Friday’s updated Southern Section basketball playoff games. …

The City Section will announce its boys and girls basketball pairings on Sunday after 5 p.m.

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