New Order Creates Imbalance : Releaguing Shifts Basketball Talent to Western State Conference, Making a Tougher Road to the Playoffs for Moorpark, Canyons

When the Western State Conference opened its basketball season last week, none of the 10 teams had a losing record and six teams had won 10 or more games. The conference’s competitiveness has College of the Canyons Coach Lee Smelser and Moorpark Coach Al Nordquist approaching the new season with apprehension, if not trepidation.

“There’s no mystery about this conference,” Smelser said. “Every night, everybody is going to have to play and play hard.”

Said Nordquist: “A team could lose almost half its games and still win the conference.”

Smelser and Nordquist took their teams to the state tournament last season, but the road this time might be rougher. The WSC picked up teams from the Mountain Valley (Santa Monica and Canyons) and Inland Valley (Bakersfield and Glendale) conferences, which were disbanded at the end of the last school year.

The move put Canyons (11-9), Moorpark (11-6), Glendale, Santa Monica, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Bakersfield in the same conference with Allan Hancock, Oxnard and Cuesta.

Glendale (15-2) is ranked No. 4 in the state by the JC Athletic Bureau, Ventura (15-3) is No. 5. In Southern California, Glendale and Ventura are No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, and Santa Barbara (11-6), Bakersfield (12-6) and Canyons (11-8) are ranked in the top 15. Santa Monica is 10-6.

Meanwhile, Valley College is in the newly formed Southern California Conference, which is floundering at best. Conversely, the WSC is being touted as one of the best in the state.

“It’s incredible,” Nordquist said. “There are so many good teams--every team is a good team--that it’s impossible to speculate on which team will win everything.”

The favorite is Glendale, but Canyons might have the best shot at knocking off the Vaqueros. The Cougars return all-conference center Anthony Hines, who at 6-8 moved to forward when 6-10 Mitch McMullen transferred to Canyons from Pt. Loma Nazarene.

Hines leads the conference in rebounding and McMullen is second Guard Kevin Honaker, who was first off Canyons’ bench last season, has moved to the point and improved his shooting. Honaker, who is averaging nearly 17 points a game, is fourth in the conference in scoring.

At Moorpark, Nordquist has begun his 20th season and is battling attrition. Gone are Danny Camp and Danny Berryman, each of whom averaged more than 20 points a game last season. Steve Abraham, the conference leader in assists last year, is also gone. But, unlike last season when the Raiders were 16-12 and went to the first round of the state tournament, Moorpark has more depth.

The Raiders will need a strong bench to stay above .500 in the new conference. Nordquist has platooned his players, preying on teams that lack depth. It’s hard to judge the effectiveness of Nordquist’s platoon system: Glendale beat Moorpark on Saturday, 82-69, in the conference opener, and only Glendale’s five starters scored.

At Valley, second-year coach Virgil Watson enters a new conference with a mostly new team. Valley (1-12) is in the Southern California Conference, moving from the defunct Mountain Valley.

The conference leader in preseason was Antelope Valley with an unimpressive 4-10 record. The SCC’s top five teams have won only 9 of 53 games.

“I don’t know how they did it,” Nordquist said, “but you have to wonder what the athletic directors of each college were thinking when they did this releaguing. One conference, ours, is very tough. The other, the records speak for.”

Said Smelser: “This is a quality conference. There wasn’t a team that went into conference with a losing record. That ought to speak for itself.”

In women’s basketball, Valley (12-3) is rated sixth in the latest state poll. That hardly makes the Monarchs a consensus favorite in the Southern California Conference.

Trade-Tech (16-2), rated 10th in the same poll, won the state title two years ago and the Southern California championship the year before that when there was no state tournament. Last season, Trade-Tech lost in the quarterfinals of the state tournament.

Valley Coach Jim Stephens also expects College of the Desert to challenge for the conference championship. He’ll find out early whether his predictions are accurate. Valley plays Desert today and Trade-Tech on Wednesday.

Regardless of the competition, Valley should contend for a postseason playoff berth. The top two teams in conference automatically qualify for the state regional playoffs, and six at-large berths will be awarded among five conferences.

Barring a collapse, Valley already may have clinched a berth with its strong preseason showing.

“With three good teams in the conference, it was really important that we have that good preseason record,” Stephens said.

“This year, it’s been a total team effort. It’s somebody new every night. I like it that way. I never like to build a team around several players.”

Maryjo Testa, one of the players the team was built around last season--Stephens’ first at Valley--returned in Wednesday’s 75-51 win over Antelope Valley in the conference opener. The all-conference forward had been out since Dec. 12 because of a dislocated knee.

With Testa back, Valley is ready for the challenges of Trade-Tech and Desert, Stephens said.

“If we play our game, we’ll be a good team,” he said. “If we get rattled and turn the ball over, we’ll have some problems.”

In the WSC, first-year Moorpark Coach Gary Abraham will rely on a trio of former Royal High players to get the Raiders to the regional playoffs.

Karina Hardman, who played for and coached the Royal team, leads Moorpark (9-8, 1-0 in scoring (16.2) and rebounding. Debra Rabin averages 14.5 points and Carol Kellick at 8.8 per game.

All nine players on Moorpark’s roster are freshmen, but after a 74-70 victory Monday over Golden West (17-0 and ranked second in the state at the time), Abraham said inexperience should no longer be a factor.

“They’re turning to sophomores now,” he said. “We’re really coming together.”

The conference favorite is Ventura, which is ranked 12th in the state. Canyons, Santa Barbara, Glendale and Cuesta form the second echelon.