Kamaka Hepa is a freshman PF at tiny Barrow High School at the very northernmost point of Alaska (on the coast of the Arctic Ocean). He's part Poly and part Inupiat Eskimo and as an 8th grader was named the top 8th grade player in the nation by a couple of different elite basketball camps. He is not LDS to my knowledge.

Hepa was one of 120 eighth and ninth graders at the Underclassmen Exclusive, an invitation-only showcase put on by CrossRoads Elite Basketball Camps. The lead coach for the two-day camp was Don Showalter, the head coach of Team USA’s U17 national team.

Hepa, who was selected to play in the camp’s all-star game, was named the top 8th grader by John Stovall, a recruiting analyst for ESPN.

“Hepa is a long and skilled post player that has advanced skill for his age and grade. Hepa has a chance to be the best prospect out of Alaska in quite some time,” Stovall wrote on espn.com.

It will be interesting to see where his game progresses once he physically matures and gets more exposure to elite level competition. Alaska doesn't crank out a ton of D-1 players but we have had kids play at schools like National Champion Kansas, Duke and Kentucky in the past and currently at schools like Oregon, Marquette, Florida St, Iona, Hartford, Liberty, South Dakota St, Houston Baptist and Colgate. Not all are impact players at their schools but illustrate the improved competition of high school basketball in Alaska. As a freshman, Hepa is dominating Alaska hoops and will likely draw recruiting interest like Carlos Boozer did.

What makes Hepa so interesting is the fact that he plays for BArrow High School. The town of Barrow has a population of 4200 and the sun sets on November 18 or 19, and it remains below the horizon for about 65 days. This creates a polar night that lasts until the Sun returns to touch lightly the horizon also due the refraction and scattering of the atmosphere January 22 or January 23 but It rises again completely over the orizon only during 27th or 28th of January. The warmest month of the year is July where avgs are a high of 47 and low of 35 degrees. it's extremely windy with wind blowing in off of the Arctic Ocean and routinely gusts hit in the 40-60 mph range.

Often polar bears wander through town looking for food and it's not a good idea to wander alone around town when it's dark. The guy in the picture below played ring around the rosy with this polar bear trying to keep the truck between the bear and himself but ended up getting mauled (he survived miraculously). Barrow's as unlikely a source for a D-1 basketball prospect as you'll ever see. the fact that the kid is also Polynesian/Inupiat makes it even more interesting.