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The tallest player in school history, Zhang signed with Bears in late August ... began playing basketball at age 15 ... still developing physically, he is a skilled athlete with the ability to alter games with his shot-blocking skills.
High School: Zhang was selected to China's high school all-star team after averaging 23.5 ppg, 13 rpg and 6 bpg in the CIAA Chinese League ... played in both Nike and adidas camps in China ... one of seven players chosen out of the adidas camp to travel to a camp in the United States, making his first visit to the country with a trip to Atlanta in the summer of 2005 ... graduated from high school in 2006 and returned to the U.S. in 2006 to study at the American English Academy in Monterey Park, Calif. ... played for the California Supreme AAU team, ranking third in both rebounds (43) and blocks (10) at the Cactus Classic in May 2007 ... also played briefly with the LA Impact AAU team in the summer of '07.
Personal: Zhaoxu Zhang ... parents are Yanrong Zhang and Lixin Gong ... name is pronounced JOW-shoo JHANG ... lists playing for the Chinese National team as a career goal ... the only other seven-footers to suit up for Cal are current sophomore Jordan Wilkes (7-0), 7-0 John Wardell (1965-66) and 7-0 Francisco Elson (1998-99) ... undeclared major.
