AVOCADO LEAGUE : El Camino Might Not Rule Roost
After a year’s absence, parity should make a triumphant return to the Avocado. El Camino, which won the league by three games last year with a 13-1 record, could be challenged by as many as three teams.
And if El Camino’s 6-foot-9 center Dee Boyer, who has signed with Lamar University, doesn’t recover from a shattered kneecap, the Wildcats could become also-rans.
San Pasqual, Oceanside and even Ramona could be considered contenders for the league title.
Carlsbad, which won only one league game last year, returns all five starters and should be a much-improved team. Only San Marcos and Escondido appear to be non-challengers.
THE RACE
Top contenders: El Camino (20-5), Oceanside (12-10), San Pasqual (11-11).
Surprise potential: Ramona (9-15), Carlsbad (7-16).
Hoping for improvement: San Marcos (7-17), Escondido (12-11).
Game of the year: El Camino at Oceanside, Jan. 26. Boyer will miss the first meeting with an injury, but should return in time for this one.
THE PLAYERS
The man: San Pasqual’s Erik Meek, a 6-10, 230-pound junior center. If he plays like his surname, he will be just another player. But if he plays like he did in last year’s playoffs--when he averaged more than 20 rebounds a game--Meek might be the best big man to come out of San Diego County since Bill Walton. Through eight games, Meek is averaging 27.1 points (58% shooting) and 10 rebounds.
Who will fill Brook Barnhard’s shoes? Barnhard averaged 22 points a game for a 12-11 Escondido team, but has left to play for Hank Egan and the University of San Diego. Escondido Coach Mike Williams likes Damian Cephas, a 6-4 1/2 sophomore center, but admits he’s no Barnhard. He has “real good potential and he has turned the corner in school, but he’s real young.”
With only one returning starter, Williams said, “It’s going to be an uphill battle for us.”
Ramona center Travis Knight, a transfer from Mt. Carmel, is only 15, but is already making an impact. Last week against San Marcos, Knight blocked eight shots to set a school record.
“We don’t emphasize it, but he’s got a knack for it,” Ramona Coach Al Schaeffer said. “He’s pleasing me very much on defense.”
Knight, 6-8, is the younger brother of Mt. Carmel center Shane Knight, who has signed with Brigham Young University.
“He’s a little fortunate that he transferred, because he no longer has the comparisons to his brother,” Schaeffer said. “He’s going to be quite a player.”
So far, Knight has averaged nine points a game.
Others to watch: El Camino guard Travis Gilley--scored 40 points in a game this year, including seven three-pointers. Last year as a junior, Gilley, 6-1, averaged 15 points.
“He is the reason we can’t play a zone defense against El Camino, and he is one of the reasons we can’t press them,” said Tom Buck, San Pasqual’s coach.
San Pasqual forward Bryan Banner should help take some of the scoring pressure off Meek and help him on the boards. Banner, a 6-5 senior, has grabbed four more rebounds than Meek this year and is scoring 17 points a game.
THE INTANGIBLES
The half-brother theory: Carlsbad junior Calvin Coleman is the half-brother of Syracuse All-American Derrick Coleman, so does that make him half as good?
Maybe.
Coleman, a 6-0 point guard, has a game high of 34 this season and is averaging 15 points a game.
The transfer factor: Schaeffer must be living right these days. For, on his doorstep appeared: Alfonso De La Nuez, 6-1 junior point guard point from Madrid, Spain; Knight, and Mario Brown, a 5-3 Mugsy Bogues type, who transferred from Oakland.
“I’d like to say they came here because of our basketball reputation, but honestly, they’d probably be going to other schools if reputation was their reason for transferring.”
De La Nuez, who has averaged 23 points and three three-pointers a game for 4-1 Ramona, played last year for a club team in Madrid.
“He’s only the second exchange student that has ever made the team,” Schaeffer said. “He’s an extremely hard worker and he practices well.”
If you can believe it, Brown, a junior, is a shooting guard.
“He’s the shortest player I’ve ever coached,” Schaeffer said. “He’s very quick and exciting to watch.
The eligibility factor: Oceanside’s Jerry Garrett and Marlon Jenkins were declared eligible last week and suddenly the Pirates are a contender for the league championship.
Garrett, who has been academically ineligible since last fall, scored 17 points in his first game back and appears to be ready to contribute.
“He sees the court so well,” Oceanside Coach Steve Kinder said of Garrett, a 6-1 senior point guard. “He’s real coachable and he really does have some basketball skills. He is a very unselfish player who will help us a lot.”
Jenkins, a 6-2 junior forward, was the MVP of the junior varsity last year.
Jenkins, Garrett and sophomore guard Carl Mathis should make Oceanside quicker and more of a perimeter team than it has been in the past.
“I’m going to give them the green light from three-point range,” Kinder said. “We’re also going to try and run the ball. We’re going to try and incorporate some of the USIU style and still use that pressing Pirate defense.”