mlk frosh

SoCal High School & Prep Report

MLK Challenge: SoCalHoops' Frosh
Player Recognition Selections--(January 21, 1998)

Here's our list of top Freshmen players from Monday's MLK Challenge, with stats and some commentary. As you'll notice, the younger we get, the shorter the list. Nevertheless, there are a surprising number of truly great freshman playing on the sixteen teams which competed at the 4th Annual MLK Challenge at Pauley Monday. Each of them stood out from the crowd in one way or another, and we think they're all deserving of some special attention:

Freshmen Deserving of Special Recognition

Cedric Bozeman (6'-2" Fr. G), Mater Dei--Cedric, along with Soderberg, has matured nicely through the last few months of "war" which Mater Dei has faced. He scored 7 points yesterday, but has tremendous potential to be a top prospect. We hear that he is related to Stais Boseman of USC (and we hope not to Todd Bozeman, but that's a subject we'd rather not address). This kid has speed, hops, and can shoot. Keep an eye on him.

Tyson Chandler (7'-0" Fr. C), Dominguez-- This young man was the show of this event, and if you asked most people why they came to Pauley, they'd say they came to see Dominguez and Tayshaun Prince, but if they were really being honest, they'd say "Oh yeah, and we really want to see that new 7'-0" freshman". Watching Tyson gives you a sense of watching history in the making, a bit like seeing Wilt, or Bill Russell, Bird, Kareem, or Magic, even a bit of Jordan, when they were his age. He may not be scoring 50 or 100 points in a game like Wilt, but after only 14 varsity games, he's showing maturity, skill and poise beyond his years. He collected 11 points, seven rebounds, and made three tremendous blocks, two in rapid succession on Bland and Albert Miller, and he did a very credible job defending against Bluthenthal and Chris Osborne. Need we say more? One of the best of the best.

Apolinar Fernandez (6'-9" Fr. C/PF), Artesia--, We saw Apolinar early in the season, and then again yesterday at Pauley, and the contrast was overwhelming. He's gone from being tentative and somewhat edgy to a smooth, controlled player who can drive the court, catch passes in traffic, dunk, and block shots with any big man on the court this year. He was not big on the stats list yesterday in the game against Jordan, but was an impact player during the minutes he was in the game. He scored only 4 points but added 3 boards. With plenty of time to develop, Wayne Merino has got a real top prospect in this kid.

Jack Martinez (6'-7" Fr. F/C), Artesia--Jack is a fine, quiet type of player, who manages to score in bunches, or not at all. He has great leaping ability and yesterday had at least two solid blocked shots that we saw. Certainly a top prospect to watch over the next few years.

Eric Soderberg (6'-7" Fr. C), Mater Dei-- We've seen a tremendous change in Eric in the last few months since we first saw him play at the Wooden Invitational in Anaheim in early December last year. He's gone from being a timid freshman, to having the look of a more seasoned, mature player. If that's what will happen with him in a few months, imagine what another three years and a couple of inches will do for him. We've seen his dad (who also sits on the bench as one of the assistant coaches), and we are fairly certain that Eric will eventually reach 7'-0" by the time he's a senior. Eric played well, picking up 8 points yesterday against Canyon, and he's a player to watch.