Brea-Olinda, Savanna, Western Are Class of Orange League

The Orange League basketball race boils down to this:

Three high school teams with exceptional talent, experience and size stand head and shoulders above three without the same level of talent, experience and size.

The league’s coaches can’t identify one clear favorite, but name Brea-Olinda, Savanna and Western as the field from which the winner should emerge.

Anaheim figures to be the best of the rest, with Magnolia and Valencia hoping for vast improvement and a few breaks.

“I don’t think there’s much doubt that Brea, Savanna and Western are all very good ballclubs,” Valencia Coach Ray Rodriguez said. “They can play with just about anybody in the county this year.

“I’d like to be in a different league this year. And in some ways we are.”

Defending champion Savanna would have been the coaches’ pick, but 6-foot-3 forward Mustapha Abdi has transferred to Huntington Beach.

Abdi averaged 17.7 points and 11.2 rebounds and was named the league’s player of the year. He also was one of only two sophomores named to the all-Southern Section Division III first team.

Even without him, however, Savanna will still be very good.

Western Coach Greg Hoffman has shaped another aggressive club. And this time he also has some height: The Pioneers have three 6-5 players.

“I really like Western this year,” Anaheim Coach Conrad Byars said. “They have a lot of depth and good size. Every time I saw them this summer, I couldn’t believe how well they were playing.”

With Abdi gone, Brea’s Keith Walker is the league’s best player. Walker, a 6-5 forward, averaged 26 points a game.

Brea has the league’s tallest team, which causes some concern among the other league coaches.

“Our league used to be a small league,” Byars said. “That’s not the case anymore.”

A closer look at the teams:

ANAHEIM--Byars, in his sixth season as Anaheim coach, calls this is best team.

“I’m very optimistic,” he said. “We’ve got three key players returning and a real good influx of newcomers. We’re going to be very solid.”

Danny Castro, an all-league guard who averaged 15 points a game; forward Victor Zambrano, and Greg Cole, a backup point guard last season, are the three veterans.

Rudy Fernandez, a 6-3 junior, Ryan Rude, a 6-4 junior center, and Say Iemsisanith, a 5-9 sophomore guard, are the best of the Colonists’ young players.

“We’ve got a lot of depth for the first time in a long time,” Byars said. “We’ll try to play 11 to 13 players this year. I think we have that kind of depth.”

It all adds up to what figures to be the Colonists’ best season in a long time.

BREA--Walker, who has signed with California, was all-Southern Section and all-league last season.

He’s the younger brother of UCLA’s Kevin Walker, the Bruins’ leading all-time three-point shooter. Like Kevin, Keith has a good outside shot. But unlike Kevin, he drives to the basket effectively, using a variety of spins and fakes.

That inside-outside punch is what allows Walker to score the way he does. But Brea isn’t all Walker; point guard Rodney Stewart has started the past two seasons. And Fritz Wickham, a 6-9 senior center, gives the Wildcats added height inside.

MAGNOLIA--The Sentinels are the league’s mystery team. They’re loaded with good, young players. This year’s team is one of the quickest Al Walin has coached. But they are inexperienced.

“I think we’re going to get better as time goes on,” Walin said. “We have some very talented juniors. Are we going to live through Brea? I don’t know.”

Walin will start two seniors and three juniors.

Senior guard Phouphet Singbandith, one of the state’s top triple jumpers, has performed very well, according to Walin.

Farhad Samarari, a 5-11 transfer from Texas, Wayne Thomas, a 6-5, 220-pound center, and Tablo Serrano, a 5-11 guard/forward, are a solid group of juniors.

SAVANNA--Without Abdi, who averaged 31.5 points a game and shot 78% from the floor in the playoffs last season, the Rebels will have to count on Eric Preuss.

Preuss, a 6-8 senior, will also have to pick up the slack for Tim Tillman, the Rebels’ 6-6 all-league center, who graduated.

He’ll be counted on to give Savanna a strong inside game. Keith Rodriguez, a 6-1 senior forward who saw extensive action last season, will be another key player.

Savanna Coach Tom Gregory was the league coach of the year last season, and he’ll need to come up with a scheme to compensate for the loss of Abdi and Tillman.

VALENCIA--The Tigers are short and inexperienced, which doesn’t bode well. But Rodriguez isn’t overly concerned.

“We have to be a pressing team,” Rodriguez said. “If we get into a half-court game and allow teams with 6-8 centers to set up their offenses, we’ll be in trouble.”

The only experienced players Rodriguez can call on are senior guard Richard Tibbie, who averaged seven points a game, and senior guard Jason Bae, who averaged five, and senior forward Gerry Hicks.

“Everyone else with be sophomores and kids up from the junior varsity,” Rodriguez said.

The tallest Tiger player is 6-2.

WESTERN--In senior point guard Sam Sabbara, the Pioneers have one of the best players in Orange County. A four-year starter, Sabbara averaged 14.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.8 assists last season in leading Western to a third-place finish.

Tom Barraza, a junior who was an honorable mention all-league guard, teams with Sabbara to give the Pioneers the best backcourt in the league.

But the big news at Western is that the Pioneers have some height. Western has always seemed to have good little teams, with emphasis on the word little. This season the Pioneers have Josh Byrd, Robbie Shelton and Nurishi Stevenson, all 6-5 juniors.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL PREVIEW ’89 ORANGE LEAGUE 1988-89 Overall, League Records in Parentheses

SCHOOL ‘89-’90 COMMENT Savanna (24-3, 9-1) Transfer of Mustapha Abdi will hurt Brea-Olinda (21-7, 8-2) Keith Walker is league’s top player Western (17-7, 7-3) Sam Sabbara is county’s best point guard Magnolia (10-12, 4-6) Juniors dominate this team Valencia (7-13, 1-9) Tallest player only 6-2 Anaheim (8-15, 1-9) Best team in Coach Conrad Byars’ six seasons

Monday: Pacific Coast League