Bartlesville junior guard David Castillo David Castillo 6'1" | PG Sunrise Christian Academy | 2024 #80 Nation KS continues to be one of the more natural scorers in the state’s 2024 class. He was certainly one of the very first prospects on the radar for this class and nothing has changed as he winds down his junior season with the Bruins. We’ve witnessed multiple 30+ point scoring performances from Castillo this season and the thing that we always keep coming back to with him is how effortless it looks. It doesn’t feel like a 30+ point performance in a lot of ways. He always seems to be in the flow of the offense and then you look up in the fourth quarter and he has at least 30 and looking for more. Castillo simply makes it look easy even though he’s consistently going against some of the toughest competition in Class 6A. Castillo and the Bruins haven’t had much success in the win-loss column but Castillo has still had some memorable performances against top competition. As one of the few true national prospects coming out of Oklahoma in this 2024 class, this spring and summer will be big for the Bartlesville star. He already has interest and offers from all over the country. Will he take that next step and become an All American like many predicted early on in his career?

Bartlesville rolled on Tuesday night and had no problems with visiting Muskogee, winning 73-55. The Bruins bounced back with the win after back to back losses to Carl Albert and Millwood in their tourney last week. Leading the way once again was their junior superstar David Castillo David Castillo 6'1" | PG Sunrise Christian Academy | 2024 #80 Nation KS . The Bruins had several players finish in double figures but the Roughers couldn’t do anything to slow down Castillo, who finished with a game-high 31 points in the win. He also scored 35 points in their third place game against Millwood on Saturday that we were in the house for. The thing that makes Castillo so special is how effortless it looks on the offensive end of the floor. You can go a few minutes without looking at the scoreboard and the next time you look he’s scored ten points and made it look easy.

The Bruins came up short in their comeback attempt on Saturday afternoon but it wasn’t from a lack of effort from their star junior David Castillo David Castillo 6'1" | PG Sunrise Christian Academy | 2024 #80 Nation KS . After a quiet first half where he had 10 points at the break, Castillo would not be contained in the second half. He scored 25 of his game-high 35 points in the third and fourth quarters as he helped bring the Bruins back into this game and he had a shot at the buzzer to send this game into overtime but it was off the mark. Castillo had a bit of a slow start and the Millwood defense really gave him fits early on. However, once that shot started to fall, everything else fell into place and Castillo showed why he’s one of the top overall prospects in the state. Castillo also showcased the ability to get his teammates involved. Castillo wasn’t a one man band. The Bruins had a couple other players finish in double figures on Saturday afternoon.

David Castillo David Castillo 6'1" | PG Sunrise Christian Academy | 2024 #80 Nation KS was a big contributor for the Bruins in a win. He is the #13 ranked junior in the nation and the #1 ranked junior in Oklahoma, according to PrepHoops. ESPN has him ranked as the #8 prospect in the nation and the top point guard. In this game, majority of his impact came from his scoring. The five star prospect knocked down a couple of three pointers, he showed the ability to pull-up, knocking down mid-range pull-ups in this one, and he displayed the ability to score inside. He also knocked down his free throws when he got to the free throw line. He showed good court-vision and the ability to place the passes perfectly into his teammate’s pocket. On defense, he did not back down from a challenge, as he came up with a steal, exerted nice on-ball defense, and good shot contests. This is a player that is an elite talent and is ranked as highly as he is for a reason. The same player that scored 42 points just a couple of weeks ago.

After opening the season down in Texas with a loss at the Thanksgiving Hoopfest, Bartlesville returned home and opened the season with an 85-65 win over Sapulpa. The Bruins were led by their superstar guard David Castillo David Castillo 6'1" | PG Sunrise Christian Academy | 2024 #80 Nation KS . The junior would finish with 42 points and also dished out 6 assists in the win on Friday night. Bartlesville will play host to Bixby on Tuesday night and this has to be considered a must-see game. Castillo, the top prospect in the state’s 2024 class will square off with Bixby’s Parker Fredrichsen, one of the state’s best prospects in the 2023 class. Scoring in that one will be off the charts.

Oklahoma’s highest regarded national prospect, Castillo has experienced nearly unprecedented national and even international level success with two Gold Medals with Team USA. This season he’ll turn his sights to bringing team Gold back to Bartlesville with his Bruins teammates.  High profile college coaches will be regular visitors to northern Oklahoma to watch Castillo, and now as a junior he’ll need to find the right balance of making his teammates better while also producing as a scorer.

So when it comes to players to watch heading into the 2022-2023 season, not only is junior guard David Castillo David Castillo 6'1" | PG Sunrise Christian Academy | 2024 #80 Nation KS the player to watch with Bartlesville, he’s one of the top players to watch in the state. He averaged nearly 25 points per game a year ago and he’s back to take his game to the next level this year as a junior. Castillo has emerged as a truly national prospect, being recruited by schools all over the country. He also represented Team USA earlier this year. And as we mentioned before, he’s on the same paths that former Booker T Washington guard Bryce Thompson and Norman North guard Trae Young were on before they became All Americans. But the one thing we want to see from Castillo this year is him lifting up his team. We know he can absolutely fill it up every night, but we want to see the team to start having success along with him.