Q&A: Canadian PG Kevin Pangos

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I recently had the chance to speak with Canadian PG prospect Kevin Pangos. Kevin isn’t sure yet whether he’ll be in the class of 2011 or 2012, but said the decision should be made sometime around October. Regardless of which class he joins, Pangos has a scholarship offer and is high on Michigan’s recruiting board.

Describe your game. I’m a point guard and I have a good basketball I.Q. That’s probably my strength. I can shoot the ball pretty well, too. I try to be a good leader on most of the teams that I’m on and try to be steady, not too up or too down. And mostly that’s it, just try to stay calm on the court.

What schools have shown interest in you? Michigan, of course, Gonzaga, Cincinnati, UNLV, Notre Dame, Stanford, Marquette, Boston College… I’m forgetting a couple.

Any offers? I have four offers: UNLV, Michigan, Cincinnati and Gonzaga.

Is this your first year playing AAU ball? Yeah, I just got back from Vegas. Pretty much. I’ve gone to two AAU tournaments before, one when I was really young in Indiana and another one last summer, but it wasn’t a big tournament. So basically, this is my first summer on the AAU circuit and my first tournament was Vegas.

What did you think? It’s crazy. There are a lot of teams, a lot of good teams. It’s very competitive obviously because it’s such a big tournament and everyone wants to win. But it was great seeing all the coaches come out to the games and it was a lot of fun.

You think you’ve played pretty well? In Vegas, I didn’t think I played my best, I think I played alright. I haven’t done like I was hoping to, but this summer in Germany I played pretty well (Ed: Canada finished 3rd in the FIBA U17 championships and Pangos avg’d 15.8 points and 4.1 assists per game & made the all-tournament team.).

There’s been some confusion as to what graduating class you’ll be a part of. Any news? I’m not sure yet. I’m talking to a lot of people and I haven’t really come to a conclusion yet. I’m going to make my decision sometime in the beginning of the school year, so that I know what I’m doing, just to make things easier on myself and the coaches who are contacting me.

Where would you put Michigan out of the schools that have offered you? I’m not going to rank them right now, but Michigan is definitely up at the top. They’ve shown a lot of interest, they’re close by, coach Beilein is a great coach and Michigan is a great school. The construction over there is crazy right now, I hear, so they’re putting money in their facilities and all that. So, definitely Michigan is up at the top for me, so we’ll see. They’re definitely a good option for me.

What is it you like about coach Beilein? I like the way he deals with his players. I was watching their games on TV and he seems like he gets along with them and has good relationships with them. His system is great–he lets his guys play but it’s a structured system as well. And just talking to him, he seems like a good guy, easy to talk to and easy to get along with.

How would you fit into Michigan’s offense? I think I’d do alright. I know that they like to shoot the 3, and that’s one of my strengths. He lets them run, he lets them play the game of basketball, which is one of my strengths, just creating and finding open teammates.

Any aspect of your game you’re trying to improve right now? I’m trying to be more of a slasher, more aggressive, in order to put more pressure on the defense. As a point guard, if you can get in the paint and either be a threat to score or a threat to make plays for other players, you’ll be hard to stop.

Any player you’re compared to? A little bit of Steve Nash (laughs), but that’s kind of overblown a bit. Basically, Steve Nash is Canadian and he’s a point guard, so that’s the only one, really.

What ultimately goes into your decision? Location is nice, but it’s not the big point, that’s just a factor. Style of play, who I’m going to be playing with, coaching stability, academics as well. I just want to go to a spot where they’ll respect me as a person and a player, where they’ll be fair and everything like that and I’ll get my opportunity to play and show what I can do and improve for the future.