Pangos: Yves Thierry Ouwe Missi? Oh Yes!

The 2022 Pangos All-American Camp, the 20th edition of the top-notch summer individual showcase event, may not have the elite star power of some of the previous editions, but there have been many breakout performers and fast-rising prospects. The top breakout performer is big man Yves Thierry Ouwe Missi, a 2024 pivot from West Nottingham Academy (Colora, Md.).

Over the past 20 years, the annual Pangos All-American Camp has showcased some of the biggest talents in high school basketball. Names such as Harden, Simmons, Ayton and countless other big-time NBA players have suited up at the showcase camp that traditionally tip offs the summer evaluation period. Since 2018, camp director Dinos Trigonis has upped the ante by having his marquee individual event certified for NBA scouts to evaluate.

This year 25 NBA teams sent representatives to evaluate some of the league's future talent and although the event lacks some of the "sure-fire pro" star power of past camps, there have been plenty of breakout stars and veteran camp participants that will be elite college and contributing NBA players in due time.

The clear breakout performer of this camp is 2024 big man Yves Thierry Ouwe Missi, a 6-foot-11 talent from West Nottingham Academy (Colora, Md.). He goes by Yves Missi, but regardless of what the Centre, Cameroon native is called on social media post or in published stories, one word sums him up: talent! In fact, Missi might be the camp's biggest breakout performer since Ben Simmons came to the camp as a rising sophomore in the summer of 2012 and wowed with his size, passing and feel. The native of Australia went to Montverde Academy (Fla.) that following winter and was named by Ballislife.com as the high school player of the 2010s.

Missi may not have a Simmons type of impact on the high school game, but he's leaving an indelible mark on this camp. Missi is a workhorse underneath with a frame that screams upside and a toolbox that leads to rapid development. He is also producing, even coming up with a spectacular block to save a game for his camp team. Two of the three major recruiting networks do have Missi ranked and the third doesn't have him among its published top 60. Through the camp's first two days, Missi rates as a top five performer.

The early clubhouse favorite for camp Most Outstanding player is Xavier Booker, a 6-foot-11 2023 prospect out of Cathedral (Indianapolis, Ind.). Booker would be a terrific prospect with his frame, fluidity, bounce and skill level alone, but the separator is his shooting range. He has a terrific left-handed stroke and his shooting mechanics will never be confused for those Richie Adams (UNLV) and Walter Berry (St. John's) possessed. Like those two college standouts from yesteryear, Booker could develop into a collegiate All-American...and more.

Booker's shot is pure and he had it going on Sunday evening in a prime-time matchup with Baye Fall, a 6-foot-11 prospect from Accelerated Schools (Denver, Col.) who is considered one of the best prospects in the national Class of 2023. Booker continued to light it up on Saturday and showed why he could challenge for the top spot in the national class of 2023 when it's all said and done in the Spring of next year. Not bad for a young man who came off the bench for Cathedral as a sophomore, had zero offers just over a year ago, plays for independent travel club George Hill All-Indy and was a Cream of the Crop Top 60 selection at last year's camp.

Michigan St., Indiana, Ohio St., and Illinois have Booker as a priority.  Some recruiting experts believe the Spartans have the inside track. At Pangos, Booker is playing for camp team "Duke" and the Blue Devils are now eyeing Booker. Can John Scheyer wrestle him away from Big Ten country?

Some of the other top national breakout performers at the camp include 6-foot-7 2024 power forward Pharaoh Compton of AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.) and 6-foot-4 2024 shooting guard Robert Hinton of Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood).

Other top front court performers include Alabama-bound Sam Walters, a 6-foot-9 2023 from Villages School (The Villages, Fla.), James Brown, a 6-foot-10 2024 from St. Rita (Chicago, Ill.), Jayden Williams, a 6-foot-9 2024 from Brookwood (Snellville, Ga.), and Duke-bound Sean Stewart, a 2023 from Windermere Prep (Windemere, Fla.)

Guards Galore At Pangos

At the 2021 Pangos All-American Camp, some injuries and selfish attitudes caused a minor point guard shortage. That is clearly not the case at the 2022 edition, as there are an abundance of lead guards with the tools to not only perform well at the three-day event, but run collegiate clubs in the near future as well.

The competition will be fierce for one of the coveted guard spots in the Cream of the Crop Top 30 game at the camp's conclusion, which will be reserved for the top performers after four rounds of camp games for each of the 12 teams.

Some of the top candidates to be selected include, but are not limited to, Rob Wright, a 6-foot 2024 from Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia, Pa.), Michigan St.-bound Jeremy Fears, a 6-foot-2 2023 from La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.) and his high school teammate Aden Holloway, a 6-foot 2023 prospect. Other lead guard standouts include Oregon-bound Jackson Shelstad, a 6-foot-1 2023 from West Linn (Ore.), D.J. Thomas, a 6-foot-1 2024 from Liberty (Henderson, Nev.) and Elliot Cadeau, a 6-foot-1 2024 from Bergen Catholic (Oradell, N.J.).

Among the wing guard prospects, Marvel Allen, a 6-foot-4 2023 from Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), Devin Royal, a 6-foot-6 2023 from Pickerington Central (Pickerington, Ohio), Ian Jackson, a 6-foot-6 2024 from Cardinal Hayes (Bronx, N.Y.), Wesley Yates, a 6-foot-4 2023 from Beaumont United (Beaumont, Texas), Tru Washington, a 6-foot-4 2023 from Mountain Pointe (Phoenix, Ariz.), Isaiah Elohim, a 6-foot-5 2024 from Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) and Dylan Harper, a 6-foot-5 2024 from Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) have all made noise.

The major buzz of Saturday's games was made by Cadeau, when he closed out the second-to-last camp game on court one with a thunderdous tomahawk dunk over the top of Jazz Gardner, a 2023 7-foot center from West Ranch (Valencia, Calif.). Cadeau missed most of his sophomore high school season with injury, but has shown no affects of the bad high ankle sprain he suffered last December.

The nod for the bounciest wing in camp, and perhaps the most bounciest player at the event, goes to Kaden Cooper, a 6-foot-5 2023 from the Skill Factory (Atlanta, Ga.).

Ronnie Flores is the National Grassroots Editor of Ballislife.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores

							

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