Pangos AA Festival: Oh, all of those shot blockers!

CHANDLER, AZ – The first-ever Pangos All-American Festival (Nov. 7&8 at Compass Prep) proved to be the most high-profile (relative to quality players in the Class of 2021) event of the “grassroots season”.

  And few events – even those under “normal circumstances” – anywhere and anytime, have featured as many high-level shot blockers.

  Here are the four most notable of those who played who played in the four-game, four “regional team”-event.

   Chet Holmgren (7-0/Minneapolis Minnehaha/MIDWEST): His team lost a tight affair to the eventual champion South in a Saturday opener before taking third by knocking off the East on Sunday.

   But Holmgren (pictured) did a nifty job of presenting his case for the top overall rating in high school – any class – in all aspects of his game.

  And when has there been a shot blocker like him in high school? He swatted 25 of them over the weekend.

   Kaden Perry (6-9/Battle Ground, WA/WEST): The future Gonzaga Bulldog has been overshadowed by West (and, for a few events in the summer) Nike/EYBL Seattle Rotary teammate Paolo Banchero since both were freshmen in Washington.

   But Perry is a quicker jumper and more adept shot blocker than is Banchero (who isn’t bad himself, of course) and the “bounciest” big man in the west.

   Daimion Collins (6-9/Atlanta, TX/SOUTH): The slender, Kentucky-bound Collins rivals Perry for “quick-jumping” ability among Class of 2021 “bigs”. He blocked three shots in the championship victory over the West and Banchero/Perry.

  Jerrell Colbert (Germantown, TN, Houston/SOUTH): Some of a “sleeper” of sorts among the multitude of Southeastern Conference-bound players from the national Class of 2021, Colbert, Perry and 6-9 Jabari Smith (whose offense was near-flawless) gave the South a trio of elite shot blockers. And that was a big reason why it was able to knock off the East and West to bag the event’s championship.