THE PREPS : Everyone’s Improved, but Brea-Olinda, Savanna Remain a Head Above

The Orange League boys’ basketball race boils down to experience and size.

All six teams have plenty of experience, but only two have good size. Not coincidently, the two with the size--Brea-Olinda and Savanna high schools--are favored to take the league title.

The other four teams--Anaheim, Magnolia, Valencia and Western--figure to fight it out for the third playoff spot.

League coaches suggest this may be the closest race in many seasons, even for the teams without a big man to dominate play inside. In fact, it may wind up being one of the tighter races in Orange County this season.

“We’ll all play within 10 points of each other,” Magnolia Coach Al Walin said. “It depends on who clicks and who plays well on a given night.”

Said Ray Rodriguez, Valencia coach: “I see our league more competitive from top to bottom. This year, all six teams are stronger than they ever have been.”

Brea and Savanna are expected to click better than the rest, though.

“I think Brea’s and Savanna’s size will hurt the rest of us,” Anaheim Coach Conrad Byars said.

Brea has four of five starters back from last season. Brea’s Matt Chamberlain, a 6-foot 6-inch forward/center, and Keith Walker, a 6-5 guard, earned All-Orange League honors. Craig McPhee, a 6-5 forward, and Rodney Stewart, a 5-10 guard, also started last season.

Savanna has a front line that goes 6-7, 6-7 and 6-6. Eric Preuss and Tim Tillman are the Rebels’ top inside players. Both saw considerable action last season.

Tradition also appears to be on the side of the Wildcats and Rebels.

Between Brea and Savanna, the teams have won or shared the league championship every season since 1983. Brea has won it 7 of the last 9 seasons. Savanna breezed to the title last season with a 9-1 league mark.

Brea and Savanna were factors in the 3-A playoffs last season. Brea reached the second round before falling to top-seeded Saddleback. Savanna also reached the second round before losing to Palos Verdes.

For the other 4 teams, scrappy play, quickness and good outside shooting will have to offset height disadvantages.

Experience, too, should help the smaller teams.

“It seems like our league is going from fairly small size-wise to bigger,” Rodriguez said. “It’s changed from small, guard-oriented teams.”

Here’s a closer look at the Orange League:

ANAHEIM--The Colonists rebounded from a 1-19 season to post a 14-8 record in summer league play.

And they did it with essentially the same cast as last season, which is one measure of the Colonists’ improvement.

Marcus Mitchell, a senior guard, averaged 20.5 points a game last season and is the team’s best player. Forwards Victor Zambrano, a junior, and Jerry Blair, a senior, started last season.

The trio is joined by four returning lettermen, including senior guard Jude Barbito. Byars expects Barbito to start and to do a lot of scoring.

“We should be a quick, fast-breaking team that shoots the ball well,” Byars said. “We lost 4 games by 7 points and were competitive in several others. We needed to learn how to win. I think we might have done that this summer. We’ll see.”

BREA-OLINDA--Height, experience, good shooters--it’s all there for the Wildcats.

“We should be good, we should win our league, but will we?,” said Rick Jones, Brea coach.

Chamberlain could emerge as the top player in the league. He averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds last season.

Walker was the team’s leading scorer, averaging 17.5 points, and also averaged 9.5 rebounds.

Stewart is another key figure.

Fritz Wickman, a 6-9 junior, and Brian Hudson, a 6-6 senior, give Brea some of the league’s tallest players.

“We should be a good, balanced team offensively and defensively,” Jones said. “Good shooters . . . good talent. Can we put it together?”

MAGNOLIA--The Sentinels lost the most of any team in the league when Mike Goff graduated after last season. Goff, Orange County’s leading scorer and rebounder, averaged 28 points and 16 rebounds.

But Walin says the Sentinels will play better as a team this season. Magnolia has six lettermen back from last season’s team and gained Dominick Evans, a 5-10 guard who transferred from Orange High.

“It’s just that we have no size,” Walin said. “We do run and jump well.”

Magnolia will play man-to-man defense and try to keep opponents away from the basket in order to counteract the height disadvantage.

Magnolia does not have a player taller than 6-4 Rich McKee. Jayson Nester, a 6-0 guard/forward, Kahmpou Singbandh, who is 6-0 but high jumped 6-4, and Jerry Jones, a 6-0 senior, all played last season.

SAVANNA--The Rebels are another team that lost a great deal to graduation.

Eric Pauley, Savanna’s 6-9 center, has graduated and is redshirting at Cypress College. The team will miss his 13 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocked shots a game.

Gone, too, are point guard Richard Kimple and forward Robbie Booker from the team that won the league title in ‘87-88.

Preuss, 6-7, and Tillman, 6-6, are ready to pick up the slack, however. The Rebels will rival Brea for the biggest team in the league.

WESTERN--”How well we do will depend on how we handle much bigger teams,” Western Coach Greg Hoffman said.

Indeed, the Pioneers have no player taller than 6-3. It doesn’t mean that they won’t be good, though. Joe Romero, a 3-year starter at forward, averaged 12 points and 4 rebounds last season. Romero was an all-league performer in ‘87-88.

Bryan Baber, John Armenta and Sam Sabbara also started last season for Hoffman. Sabbara was an honorable mention all-league selection last season.

“We have a deep, experienced team that shoots the ball,” Hoffman said.

VALENCIA--Like Western, Valencia has no size.

The Tigers do have experience. Rudy Lopez and Steve Dodd started every game last season. Lopez, a senior guard, averaged 8 points last season. Dodd, a 6-4 senior center, averaged 5 points.

Richard Tibbie, a junior guard, is a promising player, according to Rodriguez.

Paul Diamond, a 6-1 forward, and Mark Miller, a 6-2 forward, are the Tigers’ top newcomers.

“We have no size,” Rodriguez said. “It’ll make it tough to do some things. We could surprise some people.”

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL PREVIEWS ORANGE LEAGUE 1987-88 Overall, League Record in Parenthesis

SCHOOL 1988-89 COMMENT Anaheim (1-19, 0-10) Has seven lettermen back from last season. Brea-Olinda (14-9, 7-3) Has seven regulars taller than 6-foot. Magnolia (7-15, 3-7) League’s best player, Mike Goff, graduated. Savanna (22-5, 9-1) Good size, but lost league’s top center. Valencia (12-10, 6-4) Lacks size, quickness, but is experienced. Western (17-8, 6-4) Tallest player is only 6-3.