THE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND THEM EVERYWHERE MEN FROM THE SOUTHLAND TO SENEGAL, BASKETBALL TALENT HAS COME TO SIMI VALLEY'S STONERIDGE PREP IN HOPES OF GETTING NOTICED.

Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - They started filing into the gym a little after 4 o'clock. The basketball court at the 24-Hour Fitness in Simi Valley is usually empty by then, and anyone looking for a pickup game drops by.

On this day, practice was running long for a group of talented high school basketball players. The onlookers, in baggy shorts and Reeboks, grabbed some seats along the sideline and waited.

Waited and marvelled.

``Damn, these guys are tall,'' someone said. ``Who are these guys?''

It was Stoneridge Prep, a local team no one in the region has ever seen but a program that is among the first stops for any college recruiter passing through Southern California.

All 13 of the teams' players are college prospects. Four have already signed letters of intent. At least four are considered NBA prospects.

Not bad for a 60-student school operating out of a three-building campus nestled among the orange groves and ranches north of the Reagan Library in Simi Valley.

The star-studded basketball team has been cobbled together from all over the world. Two players are from Africa, two from France, five are from around the United States and four are from California.

The team does not compete against schools in the California Interscholastic Federation or abide by its rules. It can recruit players from around the world, admit fifth-year students and design individual academic programs for each of its athletes.

It competes only against other prep schools that operate with the same practices.

None of the local gym rats dared to shoot on an empty hoop when Stoneridge Prep's scrimmage moved to the far end of the court.

At one point one of the Stoneridge players, Ibrahima Thomas, nearly ran into a couple of the onlookers as he chased down a loose ball.

They cringed as the lanky, 7-footer barreled toward them. Thomas charged ahead, never bothering to look down as he jump-stopped short of the sideline, reached out his long right arm and snagged the ball.

As distractions on the court go, this barely registers for Thomas.

Back home in the West African nation of Senegal, there's just one indoor court in the entire country. In the late afternoon, the sun shines so brightly through a window, you can't see the basket from the right side of the court. When it rains, the roof leaks and puddles form all over the floor. If someone forgets to close the windows, pigeons get in and fly up in the rafters.

Thomas has never played on this court, but he still dreams of it. For a Senegalese basketball player, the court at Marius Ndiaye Stadium in the capital city of Dakar is the equivalent of Madison Square Garden.

Thomas was too young to play in the stadium when he left home at 16 to chase his dream of playing basketball and getting an education in the United States.

``It was very hard leaving home and leaving my parents,'' he said softly, in perfect English. ``But I wanted to have an education and a better life.''

He's been away two years now. He speaks to his parents every couple of weeks. He speaks to the man who brought him to the United States, Senegalese basketball coach Babacar Sy, every day.

Right after Thomas saves the ball from going out of bounds, Sy is yelling at him and the rest of Stoneridge's players, imploring them to get back on defense faster when the other team pushes the ball upcourt on a fastbreak.

``This is how teams want to beat us,'' Sy tells the players.

With three players 6-foot-11 or taller -- Thomas (7-0), Mali-born forward Mamadou Diarra (6-11) and French-born center Boubacar Sylla (7-1) -- on the roster, it's no wonder.

Practice has taken on an intense tone today, despite the late start.

Stoneridge is hosting five of the top prep schools in the country this weekend in its first annual Holiday Prep Classic at Calabasas High and wants to show well.

All of Stoneridge's players are college prospects. Four have already signed. Thomas is going to Oklahoma State; Charles Boozer, the younger brother of Utah Jazz star Carlos Boozer, is going to Iowa State; Mychel Thompson, the son of former Lakers' center Mychal Thompson, is going to Pepperdine; and Howard Little is going to Valparaiso.

Diarra is being recruited by the likes of USC, Connecticut, Oklahoma State, Auburn and Baylor. Junior forward Troy Gillenwater should have his pick of scholarship offers next year. So should junior guard Angelo Johnson.

But if you're a local fan, you better catch this weekend's tournament, because it's the only time Stoneridge Prep will play in California this season. The rest of the schedule consists of out-of-state tournaments, mostly back east where prep schools are more common. In fact, that's part of the story on how Stoneridge came to be a prep school.

Filling a need

Two years ago, a Manhattan Beach venture capitalist named Mike Mahoney wanted to send his son Shane to a prep school. A knee injury during Shane's junior at Malibu High had cost him an important year of exposure to college recruiters, and his father didn't want him to give up on his dream of playing college basketball.

Mahoney grew up on the East Coast, where many of the countries' top prep schools are located. He started shopping around for a prep school his son could attend that was close to home, but discovered there were none west of the Mississippi. With nowhere else to go, Mahoney and Shane moved to Pennsylvania, where Shane enrolled at the prestigious Hill School in Pottstown.

``It just made me realize there is a need for prep schools in California,'' he said. ``Kids from Southern California shouldn't have to go to the East Coast for prep school.''

A few years earlier, Mahoney had met Sy at an AAU tournament and took an interest in Sy's nonprofit corporation, International Hoops, which operates basketball schools in Senegal and France and helps players from those countries come to the United States to play in high school and college.

Sy had been coaching a group of players from Senegal, neighboring country Mali and France at Florida Prep in Port Charlotte, Fla. The situation wasn't what either party had expected and Sy was looking to move on. Mahoney called exactly at the right time.

After researching Stoneridge's academic reputation, Mahoney decided he was willing to invest $150,000 dollars of his own money to get the program off the ground. He'd use the money to rent a house for the team to live in, agym for them to play in and scholarships to cover the school's $25,000 tuition for four or five players every year.

``He (Sy) told me it was his dream to run a program like this,'' Mahoney said.

And so they've all come, chasing that same dream. Some have come from the other side of the world, others from just a few miles down the freeway. In the plush, five-bedroom house where all 13 players and three coaches live, no fewer than four languages are spoken. But on the court, they are one team, dribbling the same ball, shooting for the same goal.

That's not to say there haven't been obstacles. Over the summer, the NCAA began cracking down on prep schools it considered `diploma mills' for top athletes. Stoneridge was temporarily ``inactivated'' by the NCAA Clearinghouse, but the matter has since been cleared up and the school is considered in good standing.

Mahoney explained that the school, which is accredited by two private school organizations, did not respond in a timely manner to the NCAA's initial request for academic information because the paperwork arrived while the school was out on spring break.

How do you say basketball in Wolof?

Amadou Koundoul was one of the first basketball players Sy found on his travels through Senegal. At the time, basketball was more of a fringe sport in Senegal.

``A weird sport,'' Koundoul said.

So he hid his hobby from his parents, playing only after school before he came home for dinner and to do homework. One day the tall, burly teenager met Sy, and the skinny, personable man from France told him that he could bring him to America to play basketball.

``That is the dream for everyone,'' Koundoul said. ``To get an education, to play basketball. If you make a million dollars in America, it's like having $800 million in Senegal.

``I couldn't believe he could do it, but he did. I'd only talked with him three times before I went to America with him. I told my parents I was going there to play basketball and they didn't even know I'd played basketball.''

His parents saved up for months and gave him $100 to take with him. He spoke no English and knew no one in America.

``They picked me up at the airport and I would just guess at what I was supposed to say: Yes or No,'' he joked. ``They'd say, `Are you hungry?' I'd say, `Yes.' `Are you tired?' I'd say, `Yes.' Then, they'd say, `How tall are you?' and I'd say, `No.' ''

Sy found him a scholarship at Faith Christian Academy in Glassboro, N.J. At first, everything seemed great. The team was filled with college prospects and recruiters lined the sidelines at every game. But after a few players signed scholarships, they stopped paying tuition, leaving the program woefully underfunded to feed and clothe the international players.

``It was 15 guys sleeping in the basement of a church, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,'' said Koundoul, who went on to play for Cleveland State and is now an assistant coach at Stoneridge. ``It was tough. Some prep schools are like that. I see what we have here now and know how lucky we are. This is a great opportunity for everyone.''

Koundoul and Sy live in the house with the team. They take no salary from the school, but get all their expenses paid for. Koundoul wants to be a college coach some day and is using his time at Stoneridge to build up his contacts and resume. Sy earns a salary as a scout for the French club team, Chalon, and several NBA teams.

They drive the team's 15-passenger van, cook breakfast, help with homework and field hundreds of calls from the college recruiters looking at Stoneridge's players.

Koundoul, affectionately nicknamed ``Pape'' by the players, lives in the garage and spends many of his nights designing logos and graphics for the school's Web site. He makes extra money, from time to time, doing graphic design for Cleveland State.

Most nights, Pape (pronounced `Pop') brings home a catered meal from a local restaurant. During the weekends, he takes the team out to Hometown Buffet, a Chinese restaurant or orders pizza.

On this night, a Tuesday, he's changed things up a bit and decided to take the team out to Hometown Buffet. Fortunately, it's a little after the big dinner rush, so only a few families are still eating. They gawk conspicuously as Sylla -- a 7-foot-1, 260-pound center from Paris whose parents are from Senegal and Guinea Conakry -- walks by them with a plate of caesar salad. (That was just the beginning -- he went back for a few more plates).

The team stakes out a table near the back of the restaurant. Sylla sits at one end next to Spencer Anderson, a fifth-year guard from Palos Verdes. Diarra sits at the other end, across from John Wilson, a senior guard from South Carolina.

Last season, the team was divided more by nationality because the foreign players were much more limited in their English. Those players worked hard on their English. At nights, Diarra and Sylla would sit at the kitchen table and practice English with flash cards.

``It was very hard at first,'' said Diarra, who speaks seven languages. ``I thought I knew English a little bit, but everyone talked so fast, I couldn't understand. So Bouba and I practiced with the flash cards or we'd have times when we'd only use English. It was the best way to learn.''

Diarra's English is good enough to have an easy conversation with a native speaker. But he still wants to improve. He's often reading a French-English dictionary in between classes at school.

Thomas' English is much better than Diarra's or Sylla's. He attended a private school in Senegal and received extensive instruction in the language.

Thomas has already scored high enough on the SAT to compete in college. He received an ``A'' in Jeannette Noble's AP Psychology course at Stoneridge.

``This would not work if I didn't have this caliber of student,'' Noble said. ``But they are all very focused and determined.''

Still, there are times when it's fun to slip back into the native tongue. At one point, the entire table is confused by something Thomas says to Pape.

``Oh, sorry, that's Wolof,'' Thomas said. ``That's what we speak in Senegal.''

One more chance

Charles Boozer has never had a hard time being recognized.

Unfortunately for him, a lot of the time, he gets recognized for being the younger brother of NBA star Carlos Boozer.

He graduated from Leesville Road High in Raleigh, N.C., with just three scholarship offers: UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Greensboro and Northeastern. All good programs, but Boozer knew he was capable of more, so he packed up his Escalade and drove West.

``I really wanted to get something bigger than that. I have big dreams, like everyone else here,'' he said.

Two weeks ago, he signed a letter of intent with Iowa State.

Spencer Anderson is still weighing offers from Utah State and San Diego State. He had a few offers last year, but saw those dry up after he got into a conflict with his high school coach.

Originally, he considered going to a prep school back east, such as Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia or Laurinberg Institute in North Carolina, but settled on Stoneridge after seeing the school grounds and the collection of talent Mahoney and Sy had amassed.

Still, it was a bit embarrassing for him to explain himself to his classmates at graduation last year.

``I was graduating, but I wasn't going to college next year. People didn't understand what I was doing, so I just told them I was a `super senior,''' he joked. ``It's worth it, though. It's the dream, right?''

John Wilson is a true senior. He was all-state as a junior at Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Columbia, S.C., last year, but found very few colleges interested in his services.

``South Carolina is more of a football, baseball kind of state,'' he said. ``So you do what you need to do for the sport you love.''

He's giving up his senior year of high school to attend Stoneridge, but seems to be fitting in quickly at his new school. Three weeks into the semester, his classmates voted him as their class president.

``I guess they like me,'' he joked.

Basketball in any language

Anderson, Thomas, junior forward J.P Okulemi and Little live downstairs in a converted living room. At nights, they stay up listening to music or surfing the Internet. Wilson lives with Gillenwater and Thompson in a room upstairs. Diarra, Sylla, fifth-year senior Moussa Camara and Johnson stay in a room down the hall with the highest ceiling in the house. Team manager Nathan Sims, a student at the school, often stays over. For some reason, Diarra trusts him to shave his head.

Most nights, the team eats together, plays video games and watches college basketball on TV. It's the kind of scene you'd expect to see in any fraternity house in any college. Well, except for the fact that the lights really are out by 11:30 every night.

``We all hang out,'' Anderson said. ``I've even tried to learn a little French because I want to know what they're saying about me sometimes. You hear Bouba or Mamadou say something in French and then your name and you know they're trash-talking about you.''

In the morning, everyone is up by 5:30 and back at the 24-hour Fitness by 6:30 for a morning workout. School starts at 8:45.

By all accounts, they've fit into the quaint little private school well. Principal Maria Arnold, a 76-year old grandmother from Mexico City who founded the school 48 years ago, likes to pose for pictures with them.

``They are great children,'' she said. ``All of them are very special. They are so grateful for everything they've been given.''

At first, the team was something of a spectacle. On a field trip Disneyland last year, tourists asked the tall African players to pose for pictures and sign autographs.

But these days -- if you can believe this -- they've started to blend in with the crowd.

``At first, I was like, `Whoa, who are they?' But they were all so nice and polite. They came up and introduced themselves to everyone,'' said Stoneridge junior A.J. Grewal. ``We all get along. They don't seem so tall anymore.''

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CAPTION(S):

6 photos, 3 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Charles Boozer, center, brother of the Utah Jazz's Carlos Boozer, recently signed a letter of intent with Iowa State.

(2 -- color) Coach Babacar Sy talks with his team during a practice. Sy brought along three of his players to Stoneridge Prep from a Florida prep school.

(3 -- color) Mamadou Diarra loads up a plate of food while dining at Hometown Buffet in Simi Valley.

(4 -- color) Members of the Stoneridge Prep basketball team attend class before an afternoon practice.

(5 -- color) Stoneridge Prep features basketball players from the Southland - and other pars of the world.

(6 -- color) Stoneridge Prep's Mychel Thompson drives to the hoops during a recent practice.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) ON THE ROAD AGAIN

(2) STONERIDGE PREP ROSTER

(3) STONERIDGE HOLIDAY PREP CLASSIC