Frank Burlison

SALT LAKE CITY – Most of the very best prep hoop players in Utah – and then some – were on hand Saturday at West High for the first-ever West Coast Elite All-Star Camp/Utah.

There is a particularly strong class of 2016 within the state and Frank Jackson (6-foot-3/Highland Lone Peak), Yoeli Childs (6-7/South Jordan Bingham) and Gavin Baxter (6-7/Provo Timpview) each did his part to justify that perception Saturday.

Jackson scored with something bordering on absurd ease, either in transition or half-court settings, by way of pull-up jumpers – from just about any point at or within the arc – and explosive forays to the rim, around or over the top of defenders.

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THOROFARE, N.J. – The East was thoroughly represented on the Top 30 Cream of the Crop All-Star selections Sunday afternoon as the Pangos All-East Frosh/Soph Camp wrapped up in the RiverWinds Center.

Players from eight states and the District of Columbia filled the Top 30 roster for the camp’s final game with the squad wearing black jerseys pulling away over the final five minutes for a 110-101 victory.

Sophomore Isaiah Washington (St. Raymond High in the Bronx) scored only six points but his ability to push the ball at a sizzling pace, with his passes leading teammates directly into dunks, layups and wide-open jump shots, sparked a nice run to help the winners black-wearing squad overcome a half-time deficit of five points and seize control of things.

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THOROFARE, N.J. – If Day I of the Pangos All-East Frosh/Soph Camp is indicative of the caliber of players at the position at the event, determining which “point guard-types” will be put on the rosters for Sunday afternoon’s all-star games at the RiverWinds Center is going to be a difficult chore, indeed.

I also attended the Western (Norwalk, CA), Southern (Lewisville, TX) and Midwestern (La Grange, IL) editions of the camp.

And – based upon what I watched during Saturday’s two rounds of games – this pool of 150-plus players may include more potentially elite-level prospects at point guard (or whatever you prefer calling the guy who handles the ball the bulk of the time for his team) than either of those camp rosters.

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LA GRANGE, IL – Travel issues, injuries and state restrictions combined to take a bite out of the roster for the Cream of the Crop Top 30 All-Star Game that wrapped up the two-day Pangos All-Midwest Frosh/Soph Camp Sunday afternoon at the Park District Center.

But those personnel hits, ultimately, did nothing to rob the game of its start-to-finish competiveness and quota of entertainment, including some nifty head-up match-ups.

The powerful and hard-working young man who was selected the Most Outstanding Player over the schedule of four games that every player was guaranteed, 6-foot-8 and 230-pound sophomore Xavier Tillman (Grand Rapids, MI, Forest Hills Central), wasn’t able to participate in the Top 30 contest because of Michigan rules which prohibit “all-star game participation” prior to the start of a regular season.

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LA GRANGE, IL – It didn’t take long for what is likely the best 1-2 punch in the building to reveal itself during Saturday’s first day of the Pangos All-Midwest Frosh/Soph Camp.

Marquese Brown, a 6-foot-2 freshman guard at Simeon High in Chicago, and Xavier Tillman, a 6-8 sophomore post at Forest Hills Central in Grand Rapids, MI, made like a modern-day version of John Stockton and Karl Malone – or, of mildly more recent vintage, Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire – while helping their “Iowa State” squad roll past “Notre Dame” during the first round of games late in the afternoon.

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