DALLAS – A year ago as a freshman, barely two months after having migrated to the U.S. from Nigeria, Charles Bassey was far and away the best player at the Pangos All-South Frosh/Soph Camp.
And, based on what was seen of him Saturday afternoon at the Triple A-Focused Learning Academy, it’s much of the same the second time-around at the camp for the now-sophomore at St. Anthony High in San Antonio.
The second and final day of the event tips off at 9 o’clock Sunday morning with four sets of games played across the three courts (meaning each team plays once) and wrapping up at noon before Top 50 (1:15 p.m.) and Top 25 (2:15) all-star games follow, with those rosters culled from the approximately 230 players in the camp.
Along with the “national debut” at the Pangos All-South Camp 12 months ago, Bassey also turned in quite the impressive performances at the Pangos All-American Camp in Southern California during the first weekend in June and at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in Charlottesville, VA a little less than two weeks later.
A broken bone in his left hand kept him sidelined for the Fab 48 in Las Vegas in July.
His on-court progress wasn’t stunted by the injury, though, as the 6-foot-10ish Bassey demonstrated Saturday while dominating in and around the lane at both ends of the floor and hitting three or four jumpers including a 3 from straightaway.
The Class of 2019 appears to be quite strong – perhaps, eventually, to prove as deep in quality players across the board as was the Class of 2016 whose members are now scattered across college camp.
That opinion (from my perspective) was strengthened after watching USA Basketball’s “mini-camp”, featuring 19 players from 2019, in Colorado Springs on Oct. 8&9.
Bassey wasn’t at the event (he would have been invited, naturally, if he were a citizen of the USA).
There were some players from that class at the event – most notably Christian Brown (Columbia, SC), Scotty Lewis (Tinton Falls, NJ) and Vernon Carey Jr. (Ft. Lauderdale – who may have the goods to ultimately supplant Bassey as the top player in 2019.
For the time being, though, the top spot is firmly inside his figurative grasp. And should remain there for the next three high school seasons if Bassey realizes that his goal each time he stops onto a court (for a practice or game) is to work to come as close as possible to tapping his enormous potential and not just in “out-playing” his opponent.
The other “bigs” (posts) from the Class of 2019 that impressed me on Saturday included 6-10 Dearon Tucker (Coppel, TX, Universal Academy), 6-9 Brent Banks (Houston St. Thomas) and 6-8 Tyreek Smith (Dallas Advanced Preparatory International).
Three 2019 “point guard-types” who were sharp and had a good feel for how the position should be played were 6-foot Ashton Dedner (Little Rock, AR, eStem Charter), as well as Keionte Cornelius (Spring, TX, Spring) and Evan McCarthy (Mansfield, TX, Mansfield, both of which are 5-11ish.
Dedner and McCarthy hit three 3s apiece while the left-handed Cornelius hit a couple of threes and set up several teammates with nifty passes.
I saw 15 of the 24 camp teams play on Saturday and one of those – “Memphis” – I watched twice which presented me with the opportunity to see another 2019 PG and 6-1 Jordan Johnson (Houston Strake Jesuit) twice and he was in-tune as both a scorer in both outings.
Among the 2019 “wings” (shooting guards/small forwards), 6-5 Trey Williams (The Colony, TX, The Colony), 6-5 Charles Smith IV (Houston Westbury Christian), 6-3 Chris Harris (Grand Prairie, TX, South), 6-4 Jairus Ramsey (Mansfield, TX, Mansfield) and 6-3 Tyrese Maxey (Garland, TX, Garland) garnered a lot of notations apiece during my frantic note-taking during the games.
The best of those from the Class of 2020 (at least while I was watching them) were 6-5 Cade Cunningham (Arlington, TX, Bowie), 6-6 Jerry Illiya (Troy, NY, Redemption Academy), 6-6 Breon Thompson (San Antonio Highlands), 6-4 Hayden Brittingham (Crowley, TX, Crowley) and 6-3 Tramon Mark (Dickinson, TX, Dickinson).
It was Cunningham’s all-around performance as playmaker, scorer and rebounder, though, that separated him from just about anyone else I watched Saturday not named Charles Bassey.
He would have held up quite well against any of the 2020s who were in Colorado Springs for the USA Basketball mini-camp.
And file the name Arthur Kaluma for a lot of future references.
He’s a 6-6 eighth-grader from Frankford Middle School in Dallas.
MS ratings can be sketchy, at best, and pointless in pretty much most other instance.
But his combination of innate athlete tools and basketball skill were quickly apparent even when matched against players two years older Saturday.
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