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Youngster Jo Van Buggenhout in Double-Affiliation with Basics Melsele

After Sean Pouedet was announced with Brussels Basketball, we now have another player from our U16 National Team that will play in Double-Affiliation this upcoming season. The youngster in question is the very talented Point Guard Jo Van Buggenhout.

The 17 year old will continue his development with his current team – Phantoms Boom – in regional (landelijke), while he will also get a chance to compete at the highest amateur level in Belgium with TDM1 team Basics Melsele.

Coming from a real basketball family (his dad Glenn had a solid career in first divison with f.e. Racing Mechelen and his sister Sam is a top prospect as well) the youngest member of the Van Buggenhout clan is a very capable guard blessed with strong ball handling skills and very impressive passing abilities. On top of that, he does it all with a certain flair that – in one of my more poetic moments – reminded me of former Sacramento Kings’ guard Jason “White Chocolate” Williams, who I admired back in the late ’90s.

This past summer Van Buggenhout got into action with the U16 Belgian National Team and he definitely left his mark on a strong squad that only lost 1 game throughout the entire tournament. Although he’s a pass-first and team-oriented player, he’s no slouch when it comes down to scoring either and possesses a solid shooting stroke, albeit still inconsistent. If he’s able to improve on his finishing touch (and I certainly believe he can and will), then I have no doubt that he will have a very bright future ahead of him.

At that U16 European Championship in August 2019 he averaged 5.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 4.8 apg (1st on the team) & 2.4 spg (1st on the team) in 21.8 mpg.

This upcoming season Phantoms Boom will remain Van Buggenhout’s primary club and so he unfortunately will only play with Melsele when Boom doesn’t have a game that day. Still, I’m very much looking forward to seeing him in action in TDM1 and hope that over the course of the next couple of seasons he will continue to develop into a strong representative amongst the elite Belgian Point Guards.

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