Pangos All-West Frosh/Soph Camp: The defenders
ST. GEORGE, Utah – There were 240 players on hand for the Saturday afternoon tip off of the Pangos All-West Frosh/Soph Camp at the Net’s on Fire four-quart facility. But it wasn’t difficult picking out two terrific defenders from…
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Continue ReadingST. GEORGE, Utah – There were 240 players on hand for the Saturday afternoon tip off of the Pangos All-West Frosh/Soph Camp at the Net’s on Fire four-quart facility.
But it wasn’t difficult picking out two terrific defenders from among that mass of hoops humanity.
Manning the territory in and around the lane better than anyone else was freshman Khaman Maker Khaman Maker 7'1" | C Trinity | 2024 State #127 Nation NV , who is from South Sudan, lives in Las Vegas and is a member of the Desert Valley Prep program.
Maker (pictured) has shown remarkable progress from the time I watched him for the Vegas Elite 16s during the Aug. 28-30 Pangos Rock Mountain Hoops Summit at the same facility.
He’s a 7-foot-1 definition of “wiry” (180 pounds or so) but his lack of bulk and strength are no hindrance to his ability to hinder, alter and block any shots throw up within a stride or two of him.
The most notable examples of that came in a camp game pitting his “Gonzaga” team against “Pepperdine” and in the Top 30 All-Star Game.
He was pitted in both instances against the best sophomore center prospect on hand, 6-11 Jazz Gardner (Hacienda Heights, CA, Los Altos).
Maker may have blocked 10 to 12 shots in those contests, close to have of those coming against Gardner.
And the best perimeter defender I saw over Friday and Sunday was – easily – Will Smith III (Torrance, CA, Bishop Montgomery).
Smith did a nifty job against two of the better scorers in the camp, Tyler Harris (Newark, CA, Memorial) and Darius Carr (Playa del Rey, CA, St. Bernard).