Las Vegas used to close out the NCAA summer live period in grand fashion with over 1,200 teams and 25,000 players looking to catch the eye of college coaches. Major changes to the live recruiting calendar, and the addition of the June scholastic live period, as a result of the NCAA basketball recruiting scandal of 2017 changed Las Vegas in July.

With the NCAA adding two additional live evaluation days (July 15-16), college coaches once again flocked to Las Vegas to evaluate. Just as in its heyday, there were several events spread all over Sin City for college coaches to scatter to. Most of the top action was centered around the Sportsradar Showdown presented by Synergy Sports and the Las Vegas Big Time Tournament.

The Sportsradar Showdown at Coronado (Henderson, Nev.) had the best collection of games, billing it as a challenge between the best teams from the Under Armour Association (UAA) versus the best from adidas' 3SSB circuit. The bracket featured eight teams from each circuit, a play-in game to decide another team from each circuit plus a NBA Academy team.

Baltimore-based Team Thrill had plenty of motivation entering the Sportsradar Showdown. After all they won their first 14 games on the UAA circuit before falling to New England-based Middlesex Magic, 72-69, in the UAA championship semifinals. Team Thrill not only wanted to represent UAA well, it wanted to extract some measure of revenge against the best UAA clubs. Team Thrill, particularly its best player, 6-foot-9 rising senior (2024) Derik Queen of Montverde Academy (Fla.), was on a mission.

Mookie Dobbins' Charm City-based travel ball club bested the Middlesex Magic team it lost to at the UAA Finals in the Sportsradar Showdown quarterfinals, 73-60. In the semifinals, Team Thrill took down 3SSB runner-up Game Elite, 79-75. Six hours later in the championship game, Team Thrill took on the 3SSB Champions and one of the best teams in grassroots basketball, the Utah Prospects. Behind a 27-point, 16-rebound, 4-assist performance from Queen, Team Thrill won the inaugural Sportsradar Showdown with a 64-56 victory.

Queen, who had 22 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five steals in the semifinals and clinched the victory with a conventional 3-point power move play in the key with 23 seconds to go after Game Elite erased a 18-point first half deficit, was the most consistently dominant performer who impacted winning in Las Vegas. It also can be argued no player in the 2024 national class had a more dominant summer.

Queen, who was the Ballislife National Freshman of the Year in 2020-21 at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, played sparingly as a sophomore at FAB 50 power Montverde Academy (Fla.). His physical conditioning wasn't up to par, but he began to turn that around and had an impactful junior season for the Eagles.

The transformation of his body and the development of his overall game was on full display on the UAA circuit and in Las Vegas. He has an under the basket game, but nowadays that is certainly not looked with any negativity since the best player in the world also plays that way. With his soft hands, up-and-under moves, slick interior passing and overall feel, it's not hard to see and certainly a compliment to say Queen has a little bit of Nikola Joki? in his game. Obviously no high school player is a direct comparison to The Joker, but his impact on Team Thrill is similar to The Joker's impact on the Denver Nuggets.

There are not four better overall prospects in the 2024 class better than Queen. The only other big man in his class is Flory Bidunga of Indiana Elite and Kokomo (Ind.). Indiana Elite played in the Sportsradar Showdown and Indiana Elite had a good chance to advance to the final to set up the dream Queen vs. Budinga matchup. Any ideas if that was foiled when Indiana Elite was upset in the quarterfinals by Canada Elite, which was easily defeated by the Utah Prospects in the semifinals.

"We wanted to erase that losing feeling after we lost in the UAA Final Four," Queen said on Monday at the Big Time Tournament at Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) after his team played in a showcase game. "We just came to play and were motivated."

As if Queen's and Team Thrill's performance at the Sportsradar Showdown wasn't enough, the team closed it Vegas trip with a Monday showcase game on national television versus one of the best teams on the Nike EYBL circuit, the Florida Rebels. Against a team with some high level talent on its frontline, Queen, who is considering Arizona, Indiana and Maryland among other heavyweights, turned in another virtuoso performance. He finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists in his team's 102-86 victory. He jokingly couldn't believe it when a teammate smoked a lay-up in the closing seconds to blow a potential triple-double performance. It was a light-hearted moment to cap a terrific closing week for his travel ball club.

Queen's performance was necessary as the showcase game was tied 53-53 early in the second half before Team Thrill took control with a 11-0 run. The team's hard-nosed backcourt picked up the defensive intensity and the team survived a late barrage of 3-pointers from the Florida Rebels' 5-foot-11 2025 point guard Jalen Reece of Oak Ridge (Orlando, Fla.).

The defensive standouts included 5-foot-9 2025 point guard Chance Mallory of St. Anne-Belfield (Charlottesville, Va.), 6-foot-1 2025 point guard Tyler Jackson of St. Frances Academy, and 6-foot-1 Andrew Dixon of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Baltimore). Jackson particularly impressed throughout the week with his steady lead guard play and is a terrific shot-maker.

Mallory was terrific in the second half of Team Thrill's quarterfinal win over Middlesex Magic and was credited with 13 points. Queen had 20 points and 10 rebounds, while 6-foot-1 Daquan Davis of St. John's (Washington, D.C.) had 18 points in the avenging victory. Team Thrill also got timely outside shots throughout the week from 6-foot-8 2024 wing Brant Byers of The Newman School (Boston, Mass.).

Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of www.ebooksnet.com. He can be reached at?[email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter:?@RonMFlores

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The 2023 Pangos All-American Camp, the 21st edition of the top-notch summer individual showcase event annually held in Las Vegas, grew on veteran scouts and media-types over its two and a half days of competition. Over the past 20 years, camp director Dinos Trigonis has spoiled scouts with his talent assembly line, so initially it was easy to focus on some of the elite players that were unable to attend because of commitments to international events taking place in the same time frame in a compacted summer grassroots calendar. When it was all said and done, however, there was plenty of depth present and many players who rose to the occasion.

Since 2018, the Pangos Camp has been event certified for NBA scouts to evaluate and the 27 teams that sent representatives this year had to take positive note on the sheer amount of quality shooters at the event. And it wasn't just your normal two-guards and combo guards doing the best work from the perimeter; it was a wide range of players who displayed marksmanship from the perimeter, including one who was named co-Most Outstanding Player of the event.

That particular player was 6-foot-6 rising senior (2024) Cam Scott, a sleek wing who had a unique combination of skill, shooting ability and a projectable frame that will only make him a better prospect as it continues to fill out. Scott, a Ballislife Underclass All-American at Lexington (S.C.) this past high school season, was as good end-to-end and as light on his feet as any Pangos Camper in recent memory. Similar to former St. John's standout and New York City high school legend Felipe Lopez, Scott's feet look like they barely hit the hardwood when he's in transition or looking to attack. Combine that with his knock down shooting and it's easy to see why he netted the camp's second most overall points (99) and was its third leading scorer (24.8 ppg). Scott closed out by making 4-of-7 3-pointers, 6-of-9 shots from the field, good for 16 points plus five assists, in the Black jersey team's 167-131 victory over the Blue jersey-clad club in the Top 30 Cream of the Crop Game.

Scott has plenty of college suitors and recently visited Oregon.?

"I had good people (teammates) around me and they trusted my abilities," Scott said at the conclusion of camp. "My mindset was to come in and do what I do best and be consistent to show the country where I was at."

He was far from the only standout shooter who performed well in the game designated for the camp's top overall performers. The camp's scoring leader (32.0 ppg) was also named team MVP for the Blue team. That was 6-foot-5 2024 guard Vyctorius Miller of AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.), who started the camp with a bang and also closed strong. Miller was efficiently knocking down shots from all three levels and showing good discipline in his selection and play-making. In the Cream of the Crop Top 30 Game, he had 22 points (on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range and 9-of-13 from the field) and added five rebounds and three assists. Just before the all-star selections were made, Miller's shooting was the difference in his final camp game, as he knocked down a deep, game-winning perimeter shot on the left wing with six seconds remaining over the out-stretched arms of 6-foot-9 2024 power forward Flory Bidunga of Kokomo (Ind.).

In addition to Miller, the standout shooting for the Blue club was done by 5-foot-11 2024 point guard Rob Wright of Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), who canned 3-of-6 3-pointers and 9-of-12 field goals good for a team-high 23 points, 6-foot-4 2024 shooting guard Jalil Bethea of Archbishop Wood (Philadelphia, Pa.), who made 2-of-3 3-pointers and had 12 points, and 6-foot-4 2024 point guard Trent Perry of Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.), who made 2-of-4 3-pointers and had 11 points.

Wright joined Miller as team MVP for the Blue jersey-wearing club in the Cream of the Crop Top 30 game.

In addition to Scott, deep range shooters who brought out the heavy artillery for the victorious Black team included 6-foot-8 forward Ryan Jones of The Rock School (Gainesville, Fla.), who made 4-of-6 3-pointers and had 14 points, 6-foot-3 2024 shooting guard Mercy Miller of Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), who made 2-of-3 3-pointers and had 17 points, 6-foot 2024 point guard Ahmad Nowell of Imhotep Charter (Philadelphia, Pa.), who made 3-of-4 3-pointers and 8-of-10 field goals for a team-high 19 points along with a team-high eight assists, 6-foot-1 2024 point guard Tahaad Pettiford of Hudson Catholic (Jersey City, N.J.), who canned 3-of-6 3-pointers and had 13 points, 6-foot-6 2024 small forward Rakease Passmore of Combine Academy (Lincolnton, N.C.), who made 4-of-6 3-pointers and had 16 points and 6-foot-4 2024 point guard Labaron Philon of Baker (Mobile, Ala.), who knocked down 3-of-4 3-pointers and had 13 points.

Nowell and Houston-bound Mercy Miller, Vyctorius' cousin and the son of Rap Mogul Master P, were named team MVPs for the winning Black jersey-wearing club.

It was only fitting Wright was given an MVP award because from the point guard position he was easily the most dominant player and would have been a worthy Most Outstanding Player choice. Wright found creases and lanes better than any player in attendance and with his feel, explosiveness in tight spaces around the key and two steps ahead vision was playing the position as if he came down from the college level to put on a demonstration for the campers. This was in addition to his toughness and prowess as a scorer with terrific lower body strength who knows how to use his leverage against taller players.

"I may not be as athletic of some of the guys here, but I know how to use my body and strength to my advantage," said, Wright, who will play his senior season in the NIBC at Montverde Academy after a terrific junior year at Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia, Pa.). "I really like to play to win and it's just another step to close out the summer strong by winning Peach Jam."

The Baylor Bears are not only getting a talented point guard who knows the game, they are also getting one who produces on winning teams. Wright is one of talented trio of guards who has led Team Final to a 15-1 won-loss mark on the spring Nike EYBL 17U circuit. Wright would like nothing more than to win Peach Jam and then help Montverde Academy to the NIBC title in 2023-24.

"We lost the second game on the first session before we knew who we were as a team," Wright said.

One team that will look to knock off Team Final in North Augusta, S.C.,July 6-9, is Cordova, Tenn.-based Team Thad, which includes not only includes knock-down shooters Passmore and Philon, but three more players who made the Cream of the Crop Top 30 Game and have helped the travel ball club to a 11-3 EYBL mark. Those players are 6-foot-5 Jasper Johnson of Woodford County (Versailles, Ky.), a dynamic point guard in the rising junior (2025) class, 6-foot-4 2024 shooting guard Larry Johnson of SoCal Academy (Valencia, Calif.) via West Virginia and 6-foot-7 2024 forward Derrion Reid of Grovetown (Ga.), yet another capable deep-range shooter.

Joining Scott as camp co-Most Outstanding Player was Bidunga, the camp's most dominant post player by a fairly wide margin. Bidunga was the most outstanding player at last fall's Pangos All-American Festival in Southern California and used that as a springboard to a fine performance in Las Vegas to become the second consecutive Indiana big man to earn Pangos Camp MOP honors following Michigan St-bound Xavier Booker of Cathedral (Indianapolis, Ind.). Bidunga was able to join an illustrious list of MOPs with his intensity, improved skill level and approach. Bidunga set the tone early in each game and made defenders feel him with punishing finishes and big blocks. For some veteran observers, his traditional game makes him a what-you-see-is-what-you-get type prospect, while other scouts feel he's just scratching the surface of his potential on the offensive end. Either way, Bidunga's impact is undeniable and his work ethic and team-oriented nature will make some P5 D1 school very lucky in 2024-25.

According to 247Sports.com, Budinga has visited Auburn, Florida, Kansas and Michigan and will look to make his college choice in the fall with Cincinnati also expected to vie for his services. He would like nothing more to cap off next season with an Indiana state title after leading Kokomo to a runner-up finish in Class 4A behind FAB 50 No. 4 Ben Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.), not to mention another title at the Pangos All-American Festival in September.

"Last year's Pangos Festival for sure gave more more confidence coming into the camp," Bidunga said. "I'm ready for another MVP performance; We're for sure thinking about state after we came so close to it."

There were many players perhaps deserving of a spot in the Top 30 Game and Trigonis challenged Top 60 Game participants to take advantage by playing hard and performing well. Three players took heed the most and earned Top 60 game MVP honors.

Jase Richardson, a 6-foot-3 2024 point guard from Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.), and Styles Phipps, a 6-foot-2 2024 point guard from St. Mary's (Phoenix, Ariz.), netted 25 and 23 points, respectively, for the Blue team in its 124-105 victory over the Black club. Richardson was explosive around the basket and made some nifty passes, although he was credited with only one assist because teammates couldn't handle his pin-point passes. In fact, three nifty dimes were ruined on consecutive possessions. Both players shot 10-of-13 from the field and Phipps, who was recently offered by Boston College, has long been arguably the most crafty point guard in the 2024 class and one of its strongest rebounders from the lead guard position. He played with confidence on both ends and continued to demonstrate his prowess pushing the ball off the glass to facilitate or score with power finishes.

Earning MVP for the Black club was Arizona-bound Jamari Phillips, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard from AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.). Phillips can be streaky, but he was on target for most of the camp and finished strong with a team-high 18-point performance on 4-of-7 shooting from long range and 7-of-11 overall from the field.

Other Top 60 Game standouts who were initially considered for the Top 30 Game by the selection committee included San Diego State-bound, 6-foot-6 wing Taj Degourville of Durango (Las Vegas, Nev.), Washington State-bound, 6-foot-2 2024 point guard Adam Njie of Cardinal Hayes (Bronx, N.Y.), 6-foot-4 2025 guard Alexander Lloyd of Westminster Academy (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and 7-foot-1 2024 center Khaman Maker of Trinity International (Las Vegas, Nev.).

Pangos Camp All-Time MOPs
2023: (co): Flory Bidunga, Kokomo (Ind.) 6-9 PF
2023: (co): Cameron Scott, Lexington (S.C.) 6-6 SF
2022: Xavier Booker, Cathedral (Indianapolis, Ind.) 6-11 PF
2021: Jalen Duren, Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) 6-10 C
2020: Jabari Smith, Sandy Creek (Tyrone, Ga.) 6-10 PF (Festival)
2019 (co): Cade Cunningham, Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) 6-7 G
2019 (co): Evan Mobley, Rancho Christian (Temecula, Calif.) 7-0 C
2018: Charles Bassey, Aspire Academy (Louisville, Ky.) 6-10 C
2017 (co): Cole Anthony, Archbishop Malloy (Queens, N.Y.) 6-2 PG
2017 (co): Charles Bassey, St. Anthony (San Antonio, Texas) 6-10 C
2016 (co): Trevon Duval, API (Dallas) 6-2 PG
2016 (co): Michael Porter Jr., Father Tolten (Columbia, Mo.) 6-9 SF
2015 (co): Rawle Alkins, Christ the King (Middle Village, N.Y.) 6-5 SG
2015 (co): Mustapha Heron, Sacred Heart (Waterbury, Conn.) 6-5 SG
2014 (tri): Isaiah Briscoe, Roselle Catholic (Roselle, N.J.) 6-3 PG
2014 (tri): Tyler Dorsey, St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) 6-5 SG
2014 (tri): Stephen Zimmerman, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) 7-0 PF
2013: Stanley Johnson, Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) 6-7 SF
2012: Cliff Alexander, Currie (Chicago) 6-9 PF
2011: Shabazz Muhammad, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) 6-6 WF
2010: Myck Kabongo, Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) 6-2 PG
2009: Harrison Barnes, Ames (Ames, Iowa) 6-7 WF
2008: John Wall, Word of God Academy (Raleigh, N.C.) 6-3 PG
2007: Brandon Jennings, Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) 6-1 PG
2006: James Harden, Artesia (Lakewood, Calif.) 6-5 SG
2005: Davon Jefferson, Lynwood (Calif.) 6-8 WF
2004: CJ Miles, Skyline (Dallas) 6-6 WF
2003: Robert Swift, Bakersfield (Calif.) 7-0 C

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

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1. Flory Bidunga is Ranked Too Low
The 6-foot-9 center from Kokomo (Ind.) had a monster summer in leading Indiana Elite to the 3SSB title and capped it by leading the Midwest team to the 2022 festival title. Bidunga made his presence immediately felt and was just too strong, explosive and disciplined for any of the other three teams to handle, regardless of whom was on the floor. Bidunga knows what he is, has an old-school work ethic and benefits from great team concept principles taught by his high school and travel ball coaches. The most impressive thing we saw him do en route to co-MVP honors alongside teammate Jeremy Fears (6-foot-2 point guard from Joliet West in Illinois headed to Michigan State) was his defensive abilities in hedging and guarding perimeter players. He was just as impressive guarding on the perimeter as in the post and even blocked some rhythm jumpers that you normally don't see in games involving elite players. Now, we pride ourselves in chronicling the history of high school rankings on www.ebooksnet.com, but all the major rankings services have the talented lefty too low. All of them. He's a major contender to finish ranked No. 1 in the national 2024 class.

2. Mercy Miller Has More Game Than Name
It's easy to suspect the son of long-time rap mogul "Master P" receives access or the benefit of the doubt because of his wealthy and famous father, but that can't be further from the truth. The rising 6-foot-3 junior at Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) had a breakthrough camp and should be considered one of the better scorers in the Class of 2024. Miller, a Houston commit, netted 31 points in his South team's 126-116 semifinal victory over the West club. Miller came back and put up 32 points in his team's 120-99 championship game loss to the Midwest club. More than numbers, the fact it was a necessity for him to put up a high volume of good looks in order to keep his team competitive in both games was his defining moment at the event. Defenders simply couldn't keep him in front because of his three-level scoring ability, strong frame and offensive approach to the game. His cousin Vyctorius Miller (AZ Compass Prep in Chandler, Ariz.) is considered one of the nation's best guards in the national 2024 class and Mercy should be on the move up as well. The soft-spoken shooting guard told www.ebooksnet.com he was satisfied with his performance at the festival and is fired up for the upcoming season. Miller will have plenty of opportunities to shine as Notre Dame plays in arguably the toughest league in California (the Mission League) alongside FAB 50-ranked teams such as Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) and Sierra Canyon (Sherman Oaks, Calif.).

3. Kids Are Being Overwhelmed
Young talented basketball players are bombarded with some many things, it's amazing the vast majority of them are still a pleasure to talk to, polite and appreciative of legit media coverage. Not only are they bombarded with inbox messages to join other travel teams, to transfer high schools and to play in events every single weekend, they are now hit by self-proclaimed experts wanting to lecture them on Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) and all that comes with it. NIL and how it has influenced every single aspect of basketball below the NBA level is the talk of the town. The ability to be compensated for something that should be a fundamental American right is bound to turn heads, but there is still a huge portion of the basketball community that doesn't know what NIL is and where to get good information on the subject. It exists because the tide of public perception turned on the NCAA and its bylaws regarding student-athletes' rights compared to its fellow students and because NIL stakeholders lobbied state legislatures to pass laws that supersede NCAA bylaws. NIL becoming a reality was a 20-year process from its beginnings and went into affect July 1, 2021, when the NCAA had no choice but to follow suit on laws being passed in states across the country. Because the NCAA held out in the name of greed until the last minute it could, it opened the NIL floodgates. Instead of the public getting educated over time, the floodgates have created a scenario where many people think colleges pay student-athletes and that they are entitled to it. Now, there are people with no experience in NIL matters with athletes' best intentions at heart and there are people with self-interests looking to take advantage of the current situation. Regardless, there are few experts in the field of NIL. For one, it hasn't been legal for very long and years of data to back up claims doesn't exist or data to use as a guide to what has worked or not worked in the past . As one trusted NIL expert (Marc Isenberg) said at the festival, NIL is all about the opportunity and becoming financially literate is key. Financial literacy is tied to education and education is tied to reading. Our youth simply don't read enough (compared to past generations) on a variety of topics and spent too much time scrolling on their phones looking at video content or at things with little educational value. Education should be the focus of NIL literacy because formal education is still far more important, long-term, than NIL opportunities are for the average student-athlete. There is simply not enough talk about the importance of education as short term opportunities for compensation become available.

4. Kids Love The All-American Festival Concept
It was refreshing to see Jeremy Fears state that he's not all that focused on NIL initiatives or building his brand; he wants to focus on his on-court development as he prepares to accept his scholarship to Michigan St. Fears also mentioned how he loved the format of the Pangos All-American Festival. Sometimes in basketball, less is better and in this case with only eight or nine players on each of the four teams, Fears felt the players could lock in and perform at their best without worrying about playing time or mass substitutions. It helped players find their strengths. The event's format also gives the participants something to shoot for and a bit more incentive to win with regional pride on the line. Fears was stoked for this team to win to end his summer on a high note. In its first three years, the event has created some memorable performances, including an absolute block-party by Chet Holmgren and a coming out party for TyTy Washington in 2020, a 53-point, 21-rebound performance by Jaxon Kohler (Michigan St.) in the 2021 title game, and the dominance of Bidunga this year. The only region of four that has yet to win a festival title is the East squad.

5. Garwey Dual Can Do it All.
The extended playing time for each participant allowed for a deep look at players who perhaps haven't been evaluated in some time or never in person. The player who took advantage of the opportunity the most was all-tourney selection Dual, a 6-foot-4 defensive wizard from SoCal Academy (Valencia, Calif.) via Carmel (Ind.) and bound for Providence. Dual was noted for his ever-moving feet and quick hands and easily picked the pocket of high-major lead guards more than once for the victorious Midwest club. Dual is looking for consistency with his deep jumper, but is a shot-maker and terrific scorer. He went for 21 points and 11 rebounds and nearly turned in a triple-double performance with steals in the Midwest's semifinal victory over the West. In the title game, Dual went for 34 points and seven rebounds, with the same stellar defensive intensity. Dual told www.ebooksnet.com his past Pangos experiences helped him come in with a confident mindset and it translated into a performance that put him in the event MVP discussion.

Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of www.ebooksnet.com. He can be reached at?[email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter:?@RonMFlores

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