PHILADELPHIA – The last – and, possibly, the best – of the fall Pangos All-Regional Frosh/Soph Camps wrapped up Sunday afternoon with a couple of terrific all-star games Sunday afternoon in Kelly Fieldhouse on the campus of St. Joseph’s College Prep School.
And, not surprisingly (considering the significant hype each of the players brought with them to the All-East Camp), sophomore Meleek Thomas and freshman A.J. Dybantsa confirmed that– at least for the time being – they are a couple of cuts more advanced than the rest of the 230-plus players in attendance at the two-day event.
The 6-foot-4 Thomas (Lincoln Park in Pittsburgh) and the 6-8 Dybantsa (St. Sebastian in Needham, MA) scored a game-high 19 and 11 points, respectively, while helping lead the white jersey-wearing team to a 94-79 victory over their black-jersied opponents in the Top 30 Crème of the Crop game.
Thomas (pictured), who didn’t arrive in Philadelphia in time to play on Saturday, played in three camp games assorted squads Sunday morning – everyone else played twice on Saturday and once on Sunday morning – before continued his stunning jump shooting and playmaking demonstrations in the day’s final game, nailing five 3s and dishing five assists.
Dybansta (who, like Thomas, was a standout at the USA Basketball Workouts in Colorado Springs two weekends ago) played with even more energy and impact at both ends of the floor on Sunday than he did during two impressive game performances Saturday for the “VCU” squad.
Dybansta was selected the overall Most Outstanding Player over the entirety of the weekend, in large part because he was always at his best against the best competition, particularly in a Saturday evening head-up showdown with A.J. Williams and Sunday morning confrontation with Chidi Nwigwe – both of whom attend Bergen Catholic in New Jersey and are also among the best of the “wings” in the national freshman class and played in the Top 30 game too.
A strong argument could be made in favor of the suggestion that the third most impressive player at the camp was sophomore Barrett Loer, a 6-5 jump shooter-deluxe from St. George’s in Newport, RI.
Of course, the same debate on the topic could end up favoring 6-3 sophomore left-hander Acaden Lewis of Washington, DC.
He may have been the best on-ball defender at the event, a suggestion coming – at least in part – by the pressure he applied against Thomas Sunday morning during the game between his Villanova squad and the Yale team Thomas was playing for at the time.
It was the last of the four 2022 stops on the annual fall Pangos Frosh/Soph Circuit, following those in Long Beach, CA (West), Duncanville, TX (South) and La Grange, IL (Midwest).
And it may have been the deepest of the camps, relative to the number of high-caliber prospects – meaning, the number of guys likely to end up playing for “upper-tier” college programs and in the NBA eventually.
My choices for the Top 15 “performers” in the camp follow.
My selections for the list are based upon how on the athletes played when I watched them, and not strictly on “next-level potential”.
I’ll post a “best of the 2022 Frosh/Soph Camps’ standouts” soon . . .
Top 15
(Alpha listing)
Class of 2025
Danny Carbuccia 6-0 White Plains (NY) Stepinac
Badara Diakite 6-10 West Hartford (CT) Northwest Catholic
Acaden Lewis 6-3 Washington (DC) Sidwell Friends
Barrett Loer 6-5 Newport (RI) St. George’s
Adrien Stevens 6-3 Potomac (MD) Bullis School
Meleek Thomas 6-4 Pittsburgh Lincoln Park
Jake West 6-1 Radnor (PA) Archbishop John Carroll
Class of 2026
Keiner Aspilla 7-0 Ramsey (NJ) Don Bosco
T.J. Crumble 6-8 Cleveland Lutheran East
A.J. Dybansta 6-8 Needham (MA) St. Sebastian
Elton James 6-6 Rock Hill (SC) Legion-Collegiate
Jasiah Jervis 6-3 White Plains (NY) Archbishop Stepinac
Winni Matta 6-7 Philadelphia Father Judge
Chidi Nwigwe 6-6 Oradell (NJ) Bergen Catholic
A.J. Williams 6-7 Oradell (NJ) Bergen Catholic
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