SoCalHoops High School News

LA Times' Paul McLeod's Orange County
Top 10; And A Few Of Our Own--(Nov. 24, 1998)

It's that time of year, when the LA Times, the Register, and others begin the "ranking" and "rating" process among high school teams in SoCal, and today marks the start of the preseason rankings for Paul McLeod, who covers high school hoops in Orange County, and also for Frank Burlison, who did his in a much less parochial way, expanding his picks beyond the borders of Orange County, and deep into other Southern Section areas (Frank picked: 1. Artesia of Lakewood. 2. Dominguez of Compton; 3. Crenshaw of Los Angeles; 4. Mater Dei;  5. Glendora;  6. Long Beach Poly;  7. Compton;  8.
LA Westchester;  9. Santa Clara of Oxnard; and 10. LA Manual Arts.-- about the only one we'd question in this bunch is Santa Clara, and there are a couple of schools who, overall probably are deeper, but what the heck, Nick Jones and BJ Ward deserve the props, right?). 

Back to McLeod's picks:  We may not agree with all of McLeod's selections, and a few teams may be rated too high, and others deserving of ranking aren't in his top 10 who should be (in our humble opinion) but the list is not half bad, and there are some obviously corect picks. Here's the list with a little commentary from us interspersed just for fun:

1. Mater Dei. "Yes, the Monarchs are back in familiar territory. Five starters return and Coach Gary McKnight's program got a boost with the arrival of 6'-3" freshman forward Mike Strawberry."

SCH:  We've done a preview for Mater Dei already, and while Mike is good, he is by no means the best on the team, or it's only player worthy of note. Check out the preview.  Are they really No. 1 in Orange County?  Who knows, but they're certainly very talented. And they've got just about the toughest schedule of any team in Orange County this year.

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2.   Capistrano Valley. "The county's leading scorer, J.J. Sola, has transferred in, along with former Aliso Niguel teammate Nathan Hair. Plus, Coach Brian Mulligan already had a strong nucleus."

SCH Commentary:  McCleod forgot to mention that Nate Hair (6'-4" Sr. SG) has already signed with USC, that Sola has signed with LMU, and that Mike Stowell (6'-5" Sr.SG/SF) may be even better than the other two.  We've already done a preview of the team, so check it out.  No. 2?  We don't know, but they will be very good.   

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3.  Tustin. "Only time will tell if the Tillers, with two quality transfers and four returning starters, can become the unstoppable force they appear to be."

SCH Commentary:  Er, um, ok. The Tillers have Chris Chatman (6'-5" Jr. F), Peter Johnston (6'-5" Sr. F) Ken Crabb (6'-1" Sr. G) and Cameron Jackson (6'-2" Sr. G) They've also got Cornell Harrell (6'-3" Sr. F) and Carlos Cordoba (5'-10" Sr. G), Dillon Hayes (6'-0" So. G) and Sante Gayle (6'-0" Jr. G) who transferred from Stockton.   But the Times preview, and McCleod's list of Top 10 is premised on the assumption that DeAngelo Collins (6'-9" Fr. C), a huge and powerful post player,  has enrolled at Tustin and will be playing on the team.  But we heard several weeks ago that DeAngelo had a falling out with the powers that be over at Tustin and had left the school and was thinking of transferring out.  We called Tustin today, and the AD confirmed that DeAngelo is still enrolled, and is on the team "so far."  Ok, maybe No. 3, maybe not.

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4 Ocean View: "The defending Golden West League and Southern Section Division III-AA champions are led by guard Tony Dow, the CIF's 1997-98 Division III player of the year."

SCH Commentary:  Another team we've already previewed, this will be one very talented group of players, and includes some of the best young players in Orange County, if not the west coast, names like Tony Dow (6'-1" Sr. PG), Casey Lawson (6'-3" Sr. SG), Rashaw McAfee (6'-3" Sr. SF/PF), Jason Silletto (6'-4" Sr. C), Ryan Westbrook (6'-2" Jr. PG.SG), and Torin Beeler (6'-5" So. SG/SF), one of our favorite players, a very strong kid, quick, major hops, who will be an impact player for some Division I college team in a couple of years.

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5 Katella. "Veteran Coach Tom Danley is hinting that this may be his final season and what a way to go out: Four returning starters 6 feet 2 or taller, including 6-3 shooting guard Robert Abercrombie."

SCH:  Katella finished 23-5 overall, and 7-3 in league last year.  The team has Robert Abercrombie (6'-3" Sr. SG) who averaged close to 19 points last year,  Dan Carey (6'-7" Sr. C) who averaged 10 ppg and 7.1 rbpg,   Brandon Jordan (6'-4" Sr. F), Matt Tisthammer (6'-2" Sr. G). There are a couple of other newcomers, and this is one team that we think is a stretch, especially for McLeod to have rated them higher than some of the others. Oh well, they're probably going to be good, and we don't pretend to really know these guys very well, and some we haven't seen at all.  Worth a look. 

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6 Los Alamitos. "The Griffins have lots of height and a European twist in 6-4 swingman Andrew Pleick, from Sweden, who can shoot the lights out."

SCH  Another team we've already previewed here at SoCalHoops, Los Al has got some great talent. Last year, they finished 17-9 overall and 8-2 in the Sunset league, and they have Andrew Pleick (6'-4" Sr. SG), a European star who has signed with Davidson University, and Jeff Grgas (6'-8" Sr. C/F), Ron Prettyman (6'-2" Jr. SG/SF), Ryan Keller (5'-10" Jr. PG), Keenen Howry (5'-10" Sr. SG), Joel Jelinowicz (6'-3" Sr. F), and some other good new players like Ken Carter (6'-7" Jr. F), Brian Rakusin (6'-6" So. F) who played Maccabi basketball for Long Beach this summer in Detroit, Jeff Smith (5'-11" Jr. G), Eddie Courtemarche (6'-0" So. G), Mike Lindemann (6'-1" Sr. SG), Mike Sandi (6'-4" Sr. C) and Matthew Vernes (6'-2" Sr. F).  A Solid team, but a bit on the young side, even if they do have a couple of good seniors.

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7 Sonora. "Some in the Freeway League may think Troy belongs here, but the ballhandling combination of Marqui Worthy and Sunny Hills transfer Bim Okunrinboye, plus six returning lettermen, give the Raiders the edge."

SCH:  They finished 24-5 overall and 9-1 last year, and they graduated Matt Anderson, Gabe Garcia, Greg Vechione, and Jeffrey Berokoff (now at San Diego State), so Marqui Worthy (6-4 Sr. SG) will try to carry the weight of the team, helped out a little by Sunny Hills transfer Bim Okunrinboye (6'-0" Sr. PG/SG) who averaged 19.3 ppg last year, and Andy Campbell (6'-4" Sr. F) and Jake Fromson (6'-5" Sr. PF). The team really lacks a big man and many would therefore question whether McLeod isn't using some great wishful thinking by picking this team No. 7, but what the heck, they'll still be fun to watch.

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8 Newport Harbor. "Ask any coach in the county which team has improved the most, and they invariably point to the Sailors, who return four starters with lots of height and determination."

SCH:  Finished 18-9 overall last year, and 7-3 in league, but they lost their big man while returning some talented players, will still have a chance for success, especially against league rivals Santa Margarita, Corona Del Mar, and Woodbridge.  The team returns Matt Jameson (6'-2" Sr. PF) who averaged 14 ppg and almost 5 assists and will start for the fourth year in a row. Dustin Illingworth (6'-4" Jr. F), Gary Robinson (6'-1" Jr. G) Adam Hearlson (6'-7" Jr. C)   also return. Some good new players and some veterans, but are they No. 8?  We don't know really, but they probably belong at least in a top 25 in the county.   

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9 Villa Park. "All Coach Kevin Reynolds has done in his three years with the Spartans is win three league titles. There's no reason to believe he will stop any time soon. The county's top three-point shooter, Alex Will, returns."

SCH: Villa Park finished 20-8 in league and 9-1   overall last year, and did pretty well this summer, playing together as a team for most of the tournaments including the Pump Best of Summer,  and even though they didn't have a lot of success against much tougher nationally ranked competition, they still did well.  Alex Will (5'-11" Sr. SG) is a definite D-I prospect, who can bomb in threes all day long, and right now he's being very underrecruited; he's certainly worth a look by some colleges, particularly when you consider that not many guys in D-I shoot 55% from behind the arc like Alex did last year, leading all three-point shooters in OC.  The team also returns Adam Keith (6'-3" Sr. PF) and  adds a big man, Kyle Egkan (6'-8" So. C/F) who transferred over from Servite. Matt MacGinnis (6'-3" So. SG) and Andy Olsen (6'-2" Sr. SG/SF) will contribute as will Bryan Arguello (5'-10" So. G) and  Justin Haney (6'-0" Sr. G),  Dan Horan (6'-8" Sr. F/C) and Kevin Seuss (6'-1" Sr. G).  Is Villa good enough to be included in the top 10?  Maybe.  We think they're good, and have some tremendously talented guys as individuals, but just how good they are as a unit this year, only time will tell. 

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10 Santa Margarita. "Why not? The Eagles have five seasoned seniors who saw action as understudies on last year's state Division II championship team."

SCH:  "Why not?"  What kind of question is that?   This team may not return all of the players from last year's championship team, but they will still be very tough in D-II, with players like Kelly Kramer (6'-6" Sr. SF/PF), Spencer Gloger (6'-6" Sr. SF/SF) who just committed to Princeton,  Ryan Dwight (5'-10" Sr. PG),  Tim Rahall (6'-2" Sr. SG), Jeff Blackburn (6'-3" Sr. C/PF), Ryan Stacey (6'-6" Jr. PF), Ryan Maconachy (6'-3" Sr. SF/PF), Blake Oldfield (6'-3" Sr. PF/C), Jay Wood (5'-11" Sr. PG/SG), and others. We've also already done a full preview of this team, and we think they're pretty good, probably better than No. 10 in the county, but certainly within the top 10 on anyone's list.

McLeod's Next 9:

It's what he calls "On the bubble, alphabetically":

"Brea Olinda (new era begins with first-year coach); Canyon (lots of height); Fountain Valley (must prove worthiness after long dry spell); Irvine (some coaches say this is too low because four starters return); La Quinta (don't go against Aztecs in a three-point shooting contest); Pacifica (Garden Grove League most valuable player Adam Rachlin returns); Servite (always in the hunt for a league title); Trabuco Hills (five starters and Coach Rainer Wulf, a talented strategist, return); Troy (with all-county guard Jerry Inzunza, Warriors might be ranked too low)."

Er, um, ok. We might have added a few more to the list, and just named it the "Top 25 in Orange County In No Particular Order" and if we had, we'd also have added  Anaheim Canyon, Bolsa Grande, Servite, Century (with Mike Zepeda (6'-10" Sr. C) who has signed at UC Riverside), and we would have rated Trabuco Hills much higher because they've got Brandon and Brennan Martin bombing in the shots from out to three all day. Also Estancia did surprisingly well last year (19-9) and while they are still short, they didn't have anyone much bigger last year and proved that they can run the court.

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