Indiana’s Future Shines Bright at the  2007 Pangos All-Midwest Frosh/Soph Camp by Dinos Trigonis (October 23, 2007)   The 2nd annual Pangos All Midwest Frosh/Soph Camp was held last weekend (October 20-21) in Indianapolis IN. This event featured 75-plus top 2010 and 2011 players (along with a few talented 2012 players) from Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas and Georgia.  The camp began with an excellent dynamic workout and skills demonstration directed by Christopher Thomas (100% Hoops/100percenthoops.com) as well as a talk from guest speaker/instructor Joby Wright (former Wyoming head coach and Indiana assistant) and continued with four competitive rounds of games that showcased the quality of the young talent present.

The camp’s top 45 players were selected by the camp staff and media present and were showcased in the two “cream of the crop” games held at the conclusion of the event.  In part I of this report, we will highlight the players that were selected to the Top 20 game (listed by alphabetical order). Top 20 Cream of the Crop Game   Maurice Burns                      6’2”     2010    Whitfield (Black Jack MO) Strong and physical guard plays excellent defense and is a leader/communicator on the floor.  Excellent student (3.8 GPA).   Alvin “PJ” Boutte                 5’7”     2011    Howe (Indianapolis IN) Small, but extremely quick PG loves to push the rock and has nice ability to find open teammates as his game-high 13 assists in Top 20 game clearly shows.  Great competitor hates to lose! Travis Carroll                                    6’8”     2010    Danville (Danville IN) Hard-working center/forward has a solid basketball IQ and an array of effective “back-to-the-basket” post moves.   Carroll has nice agility and soft hands as well as a reliable blue-collar work ethic.  Father stands 6’10” and played hoops at Ball State.  Good student too (3.3 GPA).   Elgin Cook                             6'3''     2011    Bay View (Milwaukee WI) Cook (the son of former NBA player Alvin Robertson) is an athletic slashing scorer and pressuring defender.  Only a frosh, Cook has tons of potential.

Dominique Ferguson           6’9”     2010    Lawrence North (Indianapolis IN) While Manuel was the MVP of the Top 20 game and Martin the MOP of the entire camp (see below), Ferguson was the “MPP” – Most Promising Player.   Long and athletic with relatively good ball skills, Dominique wasn’t always consistently productive here, but showed enough flashes of his impressive combination of great size, athleticism and skill level (14 points/5 boards in top game) to project great possibilities.  Ferguson missed all of his freshman year due to injury and that may have slowed his development somewhat, but with continued hard-work and the fact that he is currently being taught by one of nation’s top HS coaches (Jack Keefer), Dom has the upside to evolve into a special player in the not too distant future.  Ferguson’s potential has not gone without notice as PrepStars.com has already pegged him as their #10 2010 prospect.  Player comparison: Jared Jeffries (Indiana/New York Knicks).

Darnell Harris                        6'5''     2011    Bay View (Milwaukee WI) Long and athletic forward (in the mold of a Darius Miles-type player) runs the floor extremely well and reacts well to the ball on both ends.  Skills are not fully refined yet, but he is young and has time to sharpen them in time to become a top-notch mid-to-high D-I prospect by the time he is a senior. Terone Johnson                   6’2”     2010    North Central (Indianapolis IN) Excellent combo-guard has great all-around skills and showed his worth by scoring 20 points (as well as dishing out 4 assists) in the Top 20 Game – with those buckets coming both from the perimeter and also by taking the rock strong to the hole.  Terone is skilled, strong and athletic and everything about him screams “high-major.”  While Eric Gordon is a tough act to follow at North Central, Terone is one to really keep an eye on in this class!

Patrick Lucas-Perry              5’11”   2011    Powers Catholic (Flint MI) Very quick point can be erratic at times, but his talent is very apparent and this young floor general will only get better with time and experience.  Older brother Lavell Lucas-Perry was a high-major recruit and is currently a freshman guard at Arizona while his older sister Victoria was a star on the Michigan State women’s squad.  Very good student (3.9 GPA).   Jordan Manuel                      6’7”     2010    Howe (Indianapolis IN) Long small forward can really stroke it!  Manuel was the MVP of the Top 20 game – pouring in a game-high 26 points (including 5 “threes”) and showed flashes of becoming a Glen Rice-type player down the road if he can continue to connect with high accuracy from the perimeter and his body becomes stronger.  Manuel is also an underrated defender and rebounder and a prospect that should quickly be the object of future high-major attention.

Justin Martin                         6’6”     2010    Lawrence North (Indianapolis IN) Martin is a long armed and nimble swingman that has impressive perimeter range on his jump shot.  Justin’s athleticism allows him to finish his sweeping drives to the basket and his length makes him potentially a lock-down defender.  Martin was consistently the best performer at this camp (named as the camp’s overall MVP) and the elite high-major prospect has the chance to develop into an Eddie-Jones-type player that should be coveted coast-to-coast by high-major programs.  It won’t be long before major national scouts discover that he is a legitimate Top 25-50 prospect in this class.   Kevin Rose                            6’5”     2011    Howe (Indianapolis IN) Hard-working and productive forward makes things happens at both ends of the floor as his 14 points/9 rebounds in the Top 20 game indicate. Strong as an ox in

traffic, Rose doesn’t mind mixing it up on the boards or defending with intensity.  If he can show any consistent signs of a perimeter game outside of 17 feet in the future, Rose could be one of the Midwest’s best in this freshman class.  Very good student (3.9 GPA).  Ronald Ross                          6’4”     2010    Washington (Indianapolis IN)Strong and burly wing can score in traffic as well as knock down shots from 17’-19’ feet.  Ross was un-guardable at times in the Top 20 game and he made a loud statement with his 17 point/ 6 board performance that he is definitely worthy of being mentioned with Indiana’s and the region’s top Class of 2010 players.

Darius Stevens                      6’7”     2010    Merrillville (Merrillville IN) Great-looking athletic combo-forward has a great body that should only get better as he gets older as well as a very nice perimeter shot that he can get off with an accurate and quick release.  Upside is off the charts!  Not bad in the classroom too (3.5 GPA).   Marques Teague                   6’0”     2011    Pike (Indianapolis IN) Arriving late at the camp after unofficially visiting Ohio State on Saturday afternoon, Teague is a quick and slithering scorer that excels at taking defenders off the dribble and finishing with consistency.  Teague has the potential to be an athletic point or if he grows 2-3 more inches, a nifty off-guard that can create problems with his pesky pressure defense.   Jacob Thomas                      6’0”     2010    Columbia Heights (Columbia Heights MN) Smooth as silk off-guard has a pure outside shooting stroke and his 11 points (including two big shots down the stretch during the Top 20 game) was a major reason that his White squad was able to finish off the Black team for a hard-fought 91-88 win.  Very underrated defender also helped on the glass (4 boards).   Xavier Tipton                         5’8”     2010    Vincent (Milwaukee WI) Ultra-quick playmaker has a swift “pop” in his first step as well as precision passing ability as his 12 assists in the Top 20 game attests.  Tipton also has a very confident handle and the savvy to run a team at the next level.   Tony Tolliver                         6’4”     2010    Washington (Indianapolis IN) Strong and physical wing loves to compete and plays hard at both ends.    Good student (3.2 GPA) attacks the basket with authority.   Chris Welker                          6’5”     2010    Zionsville (Zionsville IN) Tough small forward is a terrific student (4.0 GPA) as well as a skilled offensive performer.  Possessing a sturdy physique, Welker moves well and has great intangibles.  An injury in his last camp game forced him to miss playing in the top game here, but there is no denying that he is a warrior and physical competitor every time he laces them up.   Nino Williams                        6’6”     2010    Milestone Academy (Kansas City MO) Athletic and active combo-forward makes plays at both ends.  As his perimeter skills continue to develop, Williams’ value should soar and make him the object of loads of D-I attention.

** photos here are courtesy of photographer David Dixon.  *** In the upcoming Part II of this report, we will focus of the players that were selected to the Top 50 cream of the crop games as well a few other players that stood out.

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