Burlison on Basketball

Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

Some “big” thoughts on first night of Pangos AA Camp

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LAS VEGAS – With approximately 15 players in the range of 6-foot-10 or taller, the 19th Pangos All-American Camp tipped off Sunday night a lot of “bigs” on each of the three courts over two sessions of games at the Tarkanian Academy.

And, mostly, they delivered.

Jalen Duren (pictured) and Derrick Lively II, twin tower (at 6-10 and 7-1, respectively) teammates on the Nike/EYBL Team Final squad, wielded their dominance in and around the lane in back-to-back games played on Court 1 Sunday in front of representatives of all but Boston from among NBA teams.

Those impressions are just some of the earliest that will be recalled when those teams’ – including Boston – decision makers are trying to sort through the field of the 2023 draft.

Disclaimer: I focused on just those two games (Duke vs. Notre Dame, followed by Oregon State vs Stanford), so will offer no opinions on what transpired on Courts 2&3 Sunday.

Each of the other eight teams (that I didn’t watch, close up, Sunday) are scheduled to play in either the afternoon (3&4) or evening (6:30&7:30) sessions on Monday, so I’ll be able to comment on those players in my next post.

Duren (from the Philadelphia area; he’s attended Montverde Academy in Florida the past two school years/season) led Duke past Notre Dame, 81-72.

A consensus (among Internet “recruiting” sites; most of the guys who operate and work for those were in the building, too) as the No. 1 “prospect/player” in the Class of 2022, Duren mostly illustrated that perspective while operating – mostly – against two other players at close to his height, Duke Brennan (from the Class of 2021 but scheduled to do a “post-grad” season at Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix) and Baye Fall (who came to the U.S. from Senegal in mid-2018 and is set to be a junior in Lutheran in Denver).

Duren’s combination of size, strength, athletic explosiveness, skill and “feel” were evident from the onset at both ends of the floor, as a low-post and face-up scorer, rebounder, shot blocker and even handler/passer.

The oh-so-slender (200 pounds, maybe?) Fall has a clanky (at best) jump shot so can be pushed off the block reasonably easily by the more mature and bulkier players he’ll face in the camp.

But no one – Duren included – was quicker to the rim or ball, nor ran as hard and as well, as he did Sunday night.

IMO, he’s been the top prospect in the Class of 2023 since I watched him, in Southern California, at the Pangos Junior High/Middle School All-American Camp in March of 2019.

Lively (Westtown School in West Chester, PA) offered some of the same relative attributes – only at some three inches or so taller – possessed by Duren and Fall for Stanford during its 100-86 loss to Oregon State.

His fluidity, ease of movement and hand-eye coordination at his size were just as noteworthy as Duren’s sheer “physical dominance”, IMO.

He and an opponent nearly as tall – Vincent Iwuchukwu, also from the Class of 2022 and from San Antonio, by way of La Lumiere Prep in Indiana – were the elements in the best head-up confrontation I saw Sunday night.

Iwuchukwo looked a bit awkward at times but was still able to knock in a couple of jump shots and get up close-in attempts, successfully, over the top of Lively.

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