LONG BEACH, Ca. – Summer basketball, club ball- and camp-wise, is officially upon us on Friday night.
The 12th Pangos All-American Camp will be held over the weekend at Cabrillo High (2001 Santa Fe Ave.), beginning with instruction and skills work at about 7:15 PT and camp games at 8:30 on Friday night, and wrapping up with the “Cream of the Crop Top 25” all-star game Sunday afternoon at about 1:15.
The camp has produced numerous college and NBA standouts, including the likes of James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Brandon Jennings, DeMar DeRozan, Andre Drummond, John Wall, Anthony Davis, Chandler Parsons and Harrison Barnes.
The most recent John R. Wooden Award winner, Doug McDermott (Creighton), was a standout in the 2009 camp
Voted the camp’s Most Outstanding Player for the 2013 camp was Santa Ana Mater Dei’s Stanley Johnson, the California State Player of the Year after leading the Monarchs to the State Open Division title (the program’s state championship with Johnson in uniform).
Two other McDonald’s All-Americans, Emmanuel Mudiay and Rashad Vaughn, shared Cream of the Crop 25 co-players of the game last June.
Approximately 110 players are expected to be in attendance this week, including several prospects from the Class of 2015 who have already committed to colleges.
Among those are Southern California guards Kendall Small (Lakewood Mayfair/Oregon), Sedrick Barefield (Corona Centennial/SMU), Jeremy Hemsley (LaVerne Damien/San Diego State) and Tyler Dorsey (Bellflower St. John Bosco/Arizona).
Other standout guards from the Class of 2015 expected to participate include Jesse Wade (Kaysville, UT, Davis/Gonzaga commitment), Isaiah Briscoe (Roselle, NJ, Catholic), Terrence Phillips (Mouth of Wilson, VA, Oak Hill Academy/he’s the brother of Brandon Jennings), Marcus LoVett (San Gabriel, CA, Academy), Dejounte Murray (Seattle Rainier Beach) and Paris Austin (Oakland Bishop O’Dowd).
The three best “wing-forwards” in the west in the Class of 2015 – Tres Tinkle (Missoula, MT, Hellgate), Ray Smith (Las Vegas) and Bennie Boatwright (Sun Valley, CA, Village Christian – are also expected to be among the headliners at the event.
Two of the best half-dozen or so best posts in the Class of 2015, Stephen Zimmerman and Chase Jeter (both from Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas), are also expected to be among the best players in the camp for the second year in a row.
Three players who started alongside Stanley Johnson during those 35 Mater Dei victories, 6-9 Michael Cage Jr. (Class of 2016), Rex Pflueger (2015) and La’Vette Parker (2015), are also on a tentative roster for the camp.
Three other of the better 2016 players in the west also expected to be on hand are guards Lonzo Ball (Chino Hills/he’s committed to UCLA) and Derryck Thornton (Henderson, NV, Findlay Prep) and forward T.J. Leaf (El Cajon Foothills Christian).
