ft. meyers city of palms classic

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SoCalHoops Tournament News

Mater Dei At Ft. Meyers City Of Palms
Tourney Next Week--(Dec. 16, 1999)

Mater Dei, currently ranked No. 6 in the nation in the USA Today national poll, won't be in Las Vegas for the Reebok Holiday Prep Classic. They'll probably be back next year, but in the meantime, they'll be at the City of Palms Classic in Ft. Meyers, Florida. Their first game is Saturday against Pope John Paul HS from Boca Raton, Florida. We won't pretend to tell you we really know a lot about most of the teams in this one, but there will be some other USA Today top teams and players, including Denver East (ranked No. 19), Ballard High School from Louisville, Kentucky (which was one of the few teams to beat Artesia last year in this tournament, and which features Brandon Bender (6'-9" Jr.PF) and Mac Wilkinson (6-8 Sr PF); Berkmar High School, one of the top teams in Georgia; Camden High from Camden, NJ, featuring DeJuan Wagner, (6'-1" Jr. PG) the son of NBA veteran Milt Wagner; Salmen High School from Slidell, Lousianna, featuring Chris Duhon (6'-1" Sr. PG), a national top 10 player; Childersburg HS, from Alabama, featuring everyone's consensus No. 1 summer player Gerald Wallace (6'-7" Sr. PF); and on and on.

In fact looking at the teams in this tournament, we'd say it's one of the better ones taking place next week with some truly national-caliber players. The Ft. Meyers City Of Palms Classic has its own website, and you can check out the teams, the schedule and the history of the event. Hopefully, they'll be posting scores too so we can keep up with the results.