Westendorf Providing Sweet Dreams : Prep basketball: St. Margaret’s 6-7 junior center is making a big impact at a small school.

Ryan (The Dream) Westendorf. No, it doesn’t flow from the tongue quite as easily as Akeem (The Dream) Olajuwon.

But listen to Coach Rick Bauer of St. Margaret’s High School as he practically gushes about his 6-foot-7 center, and the nickname seems to fit.

“He’s a recruiter’s dream because of his academic side,” Bauer said. “He’s a coach’s dream because he’s got a tremendous attitude and a great work ethic. And he’s a player’s dream because when you play with him, he inspires you and has an unselfish attitude.”

After such a dreamy endorsement, what else is left to say about Westendorf? Plenty.

For starters, there are Westendorf’s statistics, which Bauer called “staggering.” He is averaging 25.6 points and 19.6 rebounds a game entering the Small Schools championship game against top-seeded Ribet Academy at 7:30 tonight at Saddleback College.

But the number Bauer talks of most often is Westendorf’s 3.9 grade-point average last semester. “He’s the perfect profile of a student athlete,” Bauer said.

Can Westendorf play at the Division I college level--a rarity for a player in the Small Schools division? Yes, Bauer said emphatically. But Westendorf shrugs his shoulders and hardly seems concerned about the question.

His reaction to the major-college question reveals another aspect of the 16-year-old that Bauer brags about. At a time when many think sports receives too much attention, Westendorf said he has his priorities set. He works Sundays as a box boy at a grocery store and concentrates on academics, calling sports the “extra stuff.”

The lanky junior will be the center of attention in tonight’s game. Ribet Coach Mark Miller said his team must slow Westendorf, who is averaging 26.5 points in the playoffs, to win.

Westendorf handles the ball well, intimidates on defense, has a soft touch inside and is capable of shooting from three-point range, Bauer said.

“He’s had a great year for us in so many different ways: leadership, offensive productivity, defensively,” Bauer said. “He has not had one slump.”

Such attributes have enabled Westendorf to start for three seasons and earn the Academy League’s player of the year award this season, despite facing double-team and sagging zone defenses in most games.

Yet the question remains: Would Westendorf dominate against teams from bigger schools with more talent and depth? The Small Schools division consists of schools with enrollments of 149 students or fewer; St. Margaret’s has an enrollment of 124.

“It’s how hard he plays and how he progresses and not about the size of our school,” Bauer said. “Ryan is a big fish in a small school. He’d be a big fish in a big school.”

Said Westendorf: “It gets frustrating. I think I have the ability to play at a bigger school, but you’re not going to change schools just for sports. It’s hard sometimes, but I’m not going to cry about it.”

Still, Westendorf wishes he played tougher competition during the high school season, when he seldom faces a player of equal size. To meet better players, Westendorf competes in the Slam-n-Jam league in the spring and becomes a “basketball beach bum” during the summer.

“I still face good players,” he said, “just not during the league.”

Nonetheless, Bauer envisions Westendorf with a few more pounds on his 185-pound frame and improved power moves, and he sees a Division I forward.

“I’ve been around basketball all my life and I think he’s a definite Division I prospect,” he said. “If he continues to improve and work on fundamentals, it doesn’t matter if he comes from a small school or a big school.

“I think this year has been great for him, all the accolades and publicity he’s received. I think it’s made him focus on what kind of future he has to go on to college and play basketball.”

Indeed, it has. But whether the future includes college basketball, Westendorf said, is not a great concern.

Westendorf, who has received letters from Notre Dame, USC and Loyola Marymount, said he will not attend a junior college or small college to continue playing basketball. Instead, he will go to a major college, for academic purposes, and perhaps try to walk on to the team.

“I’m going to college regardless,” he said. “If I get a scholarship, that’s great and wonderful and I’ll use it to its fullest. But if I don’t, it’s not anything heartbreaking. I don’t plan on playing pro basketball. The sports will end somewhere. You need something afterwards.”

SMALL SCHOOLS BOYS’ LINEUPS ST. MARGARET’S (21-4) Coach Rick Bauer

Name Hgt. Yr. PPG Pos. Jeff Hilgers 6-2 Sr. 4.6 F Dann Campaigne 6-2 Sr. 18.7 F Ryan Westendorf 6-7 Jr. 25.6 C Trevor Durham 5-8 Sr. 8.7 G Ravi Mruthyunjaya 5-3 Fr. 3.5 G

RIBET ACADEMY (24-2) Coach Mark Miller

Name Hgt. Yr. PPG Pos. Jacquin Moore 6-2 Jr. 18.0 F Jason Sanders 6-3 Fr. 16.0 F Chris Maxwell 6-3 Jr. 10.0 C Jamal Duncan 5-8 Jr. 6.0 G Kip Rolfe 5-10 Jr. 6.5 G