LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – It’s a pretty good hoops rule-of-the-thumb: If you aspire to be a considered an elite high school point guard – and college prospect – then you’re going to attend one of the regional Pangos Frosh/Soph…
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SubscribeLAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – It’s a pretty good hoops rule-of-the-thumb:
If you aspire to be a considered an elite high school point guard – and college prospect – then you’re going to attend one of the regional Pangos Frosh/Soph Camps are some point as an eighth grader, freshman or sophomore.
Need collaboration?
OK, here we go:
Among the Pangos F/S recent alumni are: Melo and Lonzo Ball; De’Aaron Fox; Trae Young; Cole Anthony; and Cade Cunningham.
That established, here are the five-best PG prospects from the Class of 2023 that I watched/evaluated during the Pangos F/S West (Sept. 26&27/St. George, UT), South (Oct. 3&4/Duncanville, TX) and Midwest (Oct 17&18/La Grange, IL).
Note: I didn’t attend the Pangos F/S East event (Oct. 24&25/Delaware) because I was in Mansfield (near Dallas) for the Wootten Oct. 24&25 Coach Wootten Top 150 Camp.
(alpha listing)
Layden Blocker 6-2 Little Rock, AR (Christian Academy): The most dynamic backcourt athlete at the South camp, Blocker – who scored 10 points in the Top 30 all-star game – impacts play at both ends of the floor. No one guarded dribblers better at any of Pangos stops in the fall.
Blocker (pictured) was also at his tenacious best a few weeks later at the Wootten Camp.
TJohnn Brown 5-11 Garland, TX (South): Another tuff -on ball defender who excelled at both ends of the floor in Duncanville.
Brown had 10 points, four assists and three steals to earn MVP in the Top 30 game while leading the white jerseys to a 103-95 win.
Jeremiah Johnson 6-3 Oklahoma City (Putnam City North): Johnson is currently recovering from wounds suffered in a random shooting in a parking lot on February 1. At the time he was averaging 22 points a game at the time.
Johnson was superb during the Midwest Camp in La Grange – as he was the year before as an eighth grader. He was likely the best jump shooter among all “point guard types” I saw during the three fall stops and will be a highly sought-after recruit, on the highest level of college play, at either guard slot.
Christian Lockett Jr. 6-5 New Orleans (Isidore Newman): Lockett, who shared the South Camp’s Most Outstanding Player honors with Robert Jones Jr. (Aubrey, TX, Braswell) and Brandon Garrison (Del City in Oklahoma), is versatile enough to play anywhere on the perimeter in college – and strong enough to play some in the post, on occasion, too.
He doesn’t play with the “burst” that Blocker and Brown exhibited in Duncanville but didn’t have any difficulty getting anywhere he wanted on the dribble, though.
Jordan Ross 6-1 Pleasant Grove, UT (Pleasant Grove): The left hander was clearly the best player and prospect from the Class of 2023 in the West Camp.
And that perspective was illustrated succinctly during the Top 30 All-Star clash, when he scored 11 points to go with five rebounds and seven assists in for the winning white jerseys (142-126).
