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Gee, is this "Harvard-Westlake" day, or what. It must be. In addition to HW's boys' team, they also have a pretty good girls' team. Actually, it's a great girls team, and we'll be doing a feature on them pretty soon. But for now, this is about their coach, Brian Taylor. Brian missed the girls' game against Notre Dame last Thursday night, which was a Mission League victory for the Wolverines (what exactly is a female Wolverine? A Wolveriness? A Wolverinette?) Oh, even though Brian wasn't there, HW won 67-34. Very convincingly.

Today's LA Times had just a little blurb. But we'll provide some more background.

For those who don't know, or don't remember, there used to be a professional league called the American Basketball Association. The ABA. And if you need help remembering what it was all about, check out the "Remembering the ABA" website.

And there used to be a team called the "New Jersey Americans", which got its start in the late 1960's. They played in a cavernous ice-skating rink, there was usually water on the floor, and the players wore overcoats while sitting on the bench because it was so cold. The team stunk, and because of poor attendance, the Americans moved to New York, changed their name to the "New York Nets", a nickname which was picked by the owners because it rhymed with "Mets" and "Jets." After the move, the Nets remained pitiful, and in the 1968-69 season they won only 17 games.

But then the owners got wise. They hired Lou Carneseca as coach. And got a whole bunch of new players. Including Rick Barry. Yeah, the same Rick Barry who jumped back to the NBA and played for the Golden State (then San Francisco) Warriors. That was in 1972-73.

When Barry left the team for the NBA, the Nets suffered. But in one short year, the Nets managed to acquire Julius Erving from the Virginia Squires for the 73-74 season, as well as a very good, young coach--Kevin Loughery. Oh, and they also acquired some other talented young players as well, including John Williamson, Rich Jones, and Larry Kenon.

Oh, and they were got another young player, one who had played at, of all places, Princeton, in the Ivy League, for the-then fairly young Pete Carrill (was he ever really young?), and who had also been among New Jersey's best high school players.

In 1973-74, the New York Nets became the ABA Champion Nets. They were anchored by Julius Erving, who won the ABA MVP award that year, by "The Whopper" Billy Paultz, who played center, and averaged just over two blocks and ten rebounds per game, and by rookie "Super John" Williamson.

The young team rolled over all the opposition. And set some pretty good records too. Oh, and they also won the ABA Championship again in 1975-76, the last year of the ABA before the merger. Fortunately for the Nets, they were one of the teams who survived the merger with the NBA (can you name the others?).

This last week, Taylor missed the Harvard-Westlake game to attend a very special ceremony in New Jersey (yes, the Nets have returned to New Jersey, in case you missed it) honoring the members of their ABA Championship teams, including Julius Erving, Billy Paultz, John Williamson. And Brian Taylor.

Among Taylor's accomplishments, he ranks fourth in field goals made on the all-time scoring list of the ABA Nets, with 1,584 (ahead of Rick Barry), his percentage of field goals is .499, third best (behind only Dr. J, and Billy Paultz), and he ranks third in the assist column (again only behind Dr. J, and Bill Melchionne). Oh, and he ranked first in steals, grabbing 620 in 271 games with the Nets. That's an average of 2.3 steals per game. Not bad.

Oh, and in case you forgot, let us remind you: Brian Taylor was the ABA Rookie of the Year in 1973-74.

And in 1974-75, Brian was named to the ABA All-League second team, which placed him among the top 10 players in the league:

First Team- All League	Second Team--All League
F-- Julius Erving, New York F-- George McGinnis, Indiana C-- Artis Gilmore, Kentucky G-- Mack Calvin, Denver G-- Ron Boone, Utah	F-- Marvin Barnes, St. Louis F-- George Gervin, San Antonio C-- Swen Nater, San Antonio G-- Brian Taylor, New York G-- James Silas, San Antonio

Brian was also one of the leading three-point shooters during his tenure in the ABA, ranking fifth on the all time list. In other words, Taylor was quite a player.

The Times didn't have all this detail, just a blurb about the halftime ceremony in New Jersey last week.

And just as a little added bonus, while Brian was back in New Jersey for the Nets ceremony last week, he was also separately honored as a member of the New Jersey State All-Time High School team. In a poll of fans and sports writers, Taylor was ranked the No. 3 All-Time New Jersey High School player, behind Kelly Tripucka and Bobby Hurley.

We've known Brian for a couple of years now, as he's coached not only at Harvard-Westlake (where he also serves double-duty as the assistant dean of admissions) but also at ARC, American Roundball Corporation, a league we've featured often here at SoCalHoops (check our SoCal Youth pages). In fact he's coached one of my kids, and he's really a terrific guy and a very capable and knowledgeable coach. Brian's got a young son whom he also coaches, and their ARC AAU team traveled this last summer to Flordia for the AAU Nationals, and from what we've seen, the kid is going to be a player too.

Brian is also proving that he's as good a coach in high school as he was as a player. His HW girls team is ranked No. 1 this week in the Southern Section Division III-A poll. And tonight there's a terrific matchup, and we're pretty sure that Brian will be back to coach it. HW plays tonight against Alemany in a Mission League game which features the two top ranked girls teams in Division III. Alemany was ranked No. 1 also, atop the Division III-AA poll.