Pangos All-West Frosh/Soph: The Best of 2022 bigs
WESTMINSTER, Ca. – There wasn’t a whole lot needed to ascertain the identity of the best of the “big men” from the Class of 2022 in attendance at the Pangos All-West Frosh/Soph Camp Saturday and Sunday at Westminster High.
In fact, it was pretty much cut and dry before the first camp game tipped off at about 3:45 or so Saturday afternoon.
Kijani Wright was a standout over the spring and summer for the Compton Magic program’s 15s squad.
And the 6-foot-8 freshman at L.A. Windward High was every bit as impressive during his three camp games and in his performance in the Top 30 Crème of the Crop contest (nine points and six rebounds) Sunday afternoon.
His next big on-court challenge will come during the Oct. 5-7 USA Mini Camp in Colorado Springs, where he will have an opportunity to show what he can do against some of the nation’s best – across the classes of 2022, ’21, ’20 and ’19.
Wright (pictured) has the combination of size, power, skill and determination that should make him one Southern California’s most productive freshmen in the coming season for Coach Colin Pfaff and should keep him near the national Class of 2022 “big men/posts” for four years.
From my perspective, the two other best freshmen “bigs” (or 6-6 or taller “posts”) at the camp were 6-7 Amir Gipson (L.A. Dorsey) and 6-6 Tyus Parrish-Tillman (Fresno Christian) – although neither was selected to play in either the Top 30 or Top 60 Crème of the Crop all-star games.
Selected to the Top 30 game among other freshmen posts were Jorge Ochoa (Orange Lutheran) – although he wasn’t on hand Sunday, for either his final camp game or the all-star games – and Henri Adrissa (Santa Monica Crossroads).
Ochoa played with a lot of aggressiveness during his two games on Saturday. The 6-9 Adrissa is a nice prospect by way of his size and innate athletic tools but is extremely raw, fundamentally and skills-wise, right now.