Windermere Prep boys basketball's Brandon Bass Jr. surpasses the 1,000 career points mark

After a 24-point outing in a 67-56 win over Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy, Windermere Prep boys basketball player Brandon Bass Jr. has surpassed 1,000 career points scored as just a sophomore. 

"It means a whole lot to me. I’ve been around to see some of my past teammates able to reach this milestone and it is a blessing to be able to reach it at such an early part of my high school career," Bass said.

Not only has he achieved this milestone at a young age but Bass is just the seventh player in Windermere Prep program history to eclipse the mark.

"This (is) an amazing milestone to reach at such an early age. It shows how much he has meant to our team (over) the past two seasons," said Windermere Prep coach Brian Hoff. "It’s hard to reach 1,000 in four years let alone be able to do it in the middle of his sophomore season."

More from Orange Observer Sports

• TFA'S NEW AD: Royals name football coach Jeff Conaway next director of athletics
  
  
• UNDERDOG: Despite leading Dr. Phillips girls hoops to two state titles, Trinity Turner's underdog mindset made her an all-time great
  
  
• HISTORIC TRIO: Windermere High football trio commit to play D-1 college ball

The son of former NBA player Brandon Bass, Bass Jr. has been well on his way to surpassing this mark since leading the Lakers to the FHSAA Class 3A state championship game as their top scorer as a freshman, averaging 17.4 points a game. 

His play as a freshman earned him the honor of being named the 2022-23 Florida Athletic Coaches Association Class 3A, District 11 Player of the Year. 

Despite the early success, Bass has even higher goals he wants to achieve at Windermere Prep.

"Some other goals I want to achieve before I go off to college is to become a McDonald’s All-American, Florida’s Gatorade player of the year and to win a state championship," he said.

This season, the four-star recruit has upped his output on offense through 20 games and is scoring 21.3 ppg, while adding 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 steals. 

With these kinds of numbers, along with his 6-foot-5 frame and NBA bloodlines, it's no wonder he's ranked as the 40th-best class of 2026 prospect in the nation in the 247Sports composite rankings and eighth-best in Florida.

It also explains why he currently holds a slew of Division I college offers from programs like UCF, LSU, Stanford, Houston and others.

"I think Brandon can be as good as he wants to be. He has improved leaps and bounds year over year. I’ve seen him grow and get better from when he was in fourth grade," Hoff said. "His rapid ascent to where he is now I believe started a few years ago, in sixth or seventh grade. He began to shoot the ball at an elite level and his skills improve each year."

With his continued progress as a legitimate three-level scorer and a superb supporting cast, Bass expects this Windermere Prep squad to again be in the hunt for a state championship.

"I feel like as a team we are getting better and better as time goes on. We have some small corrections we need to make but when we clean those up we will be something special," he said. 

Hoff agrees with his leading scorer but acknowledges this young group still has to keep growing to achieve its ultimate goal of winning a state title.

"I love our team. We have a group that works extremely hard on their games. The guys believe in themselves and each other," Hoff said. "We still have room to grow being such a young team. Hopefully, we will continue to get better through the playoffs, and if we do, we will give ourselves a chance to win any game we play in."

The Lakers (16-5) have four more regular-season games to go before the playoffs, including a tough test against Lake Highland Prep (17-3) on Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. for the Citrus League title. 

Sam Albuquerque is the Sports Editor for the Orange Observer. Please contact him with story ideas, results and statistics.

 Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @SamBAlbuquerque

Instagram: @OrangeObserverSam