YOUNG IN YEARS ONLY : FRESHMEN MICHEL, FULLOVE ARE BIG HITS IN S.V.

Byline: Eric Sondheimer

They're Simi Valley High School's Diaper Dandies for the 1990s - twofreshman basketball players who spent their early teen-age years being driven from gym to gym and competition to competition in the hope of one day becoming the best.

Brett Michel, a 6-foot-5 forward, and Branduinn Fullove, a 6-4 guard, possess more organized basketball experience than many seniors. They've traveled all over the country for basketball games. They've attended weekly practice sessions far from home.

Now that they've reached high school, they require very little on-the-job training. They've already been tested by pressure situations. It's no wonder they became varsity starters from the first day they stepped onto the Simi Valley campus this fall.

If you think they aren't normal freshmen, you're right. In fact, they're redshirt freshmen. Each repeated the eighth grade. They didn't stay back solely for athletic reasons, but the extra year of junior high surely has made them more mature, stronger and better than most ninth-graders.

Through five games this season, Michel, 15, is averaging 17 points. Fullove, 16, is averaging 12.5 points. Michel is a low-post player who can shoot from long range; Fullove is a top athlete who can hit 3-point shots as easily as free throws. Both are smart, tough and fully understand what they want to accomplish.

``If they were sophomores now, or juniors or seniors, they're all-league players,'' Pioneers coach Dean Bradshaw said.

They got to know each other playing in the Rich Goldberg-run American Roundball Corporation when they were in elementary school. The fact they are teammates now at Simi Valley might come as a surprise, because Fullove lives in Canoga Park while Michel is a longtime resident of Simi Valley. Fullove received an inter-district transfer from the L.A. Unified School District to attend Simi Valley's newest magnet school, Santa Susana High. Since Santa Susana doesn't have athletics, he gets to play for Simi Valley.

Both have strong academic backgrounds. Michel had a 3.4 grade-point average in his first quarter at Simi Valley. Fullove had a 3.8 GPA at Santa Susana. Fullove's sister, Shaluinn, was a cross country star at Louisville High and now attends Stanford. Michel's older brother, Zach, is a senior golfer at Simi Valley.

Each comes from a family with strong parental involvement. For those who think Michel and Fullove make the critical decisions in their life, forget it.

``They don't really consult - they go and drag us along,'' Fullove said of the parents.

There will be a time this season when opposing players try to intimidate the two freshmen. But don't expect it to succeed because they're already used to the psychological games from playing in countless age-group tournaments.

``I think pressure builds character and helps you deal with tough situations,'' Fullove said.

``We've played up all our lives,'' Michel said. ``I used to be real shy, but you keep playing hard.''

Fullove's arrival at Simi Valley, combined with the addition of 6-8 sophomore transfer Rafael Berumen from Pomona, has caused some Marmonte League coaches to privately fume about the Pioneers' rising fortunes.

Michel, Fullove and Berumen have known each other for years from all-star competitions. They've even been teammates before. But under the 1990s rules that include open enrollment, they have every right to play together at the same high school as long as they are living in the district or have the appropriate permits.

That won't prevent coaches from taking aim at Bradshaw. Last year, he was closely scrutinized after the arrival of 6-9 Pero Vasiljevic, a foreign-exchange student from Australia.This season, coaches are suspicious about Berumen and Fullove. And wait until next season, when Michel's younger brother, Shaun, a star eighth-grade point guard, arrives.

It all points toward Simi Valley soon replacing Harvard-Westlake as the area's No. 1 team. That's not going to go over well in the Marmonte League, especially if the league becomes similar to the Mission League, where everyone is playing for second place behind Harvard-Westlake and the Collins twins.

But here's the blunt reality about athletic life in the 1990s - the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. Players no longer have to go to their neighborhood school.

Unless somebody proves these players were illegally recruited or don't live in the area, Simi Valley has every right to embrace them.

It also means the victories over Simi Valley in the coming years will be that much sweeter. But don't count on it happening too often, not with the likes of Michel and Fullove.

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Photo: (color) Branduinn Fullove, right, and Brett Michel are freshman starters for Simi Valley's varsity team.

Michael Owen Baker / Daily News