Southern Section Basketball Capsules : DELPHIC LEAGUE

Buckley

COACH: Byrd Milic, 2nd season

LAST SEASON: 11-10; 4th in league, 3-7

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Gone is the team’s best player, guard Rod Sailes, who made the team at Maryland as a walk-on, according to Milic. Senior Brett Wallette (6-foot-1) is expected to fill Sailes’ shoes. “He’ll play a little point, a little forward and probably some at center,” Milic said. “He’s going to have to fill a lot of holes.” Wallette averaged 16 points and eight rebounds as a junior. Off-guard Andy Biddle (5-10, junior) is the team’s best perimeter threat. Steve Moon (6-2) was a surprise last season as a freshman and is expected to improve. Allen Pouratian (6-1, senior), one of the team’s best athletes, was a reserve last year at forward and adds experience. Josh Goodley (5-10, junior) has the unenviable task of picking up for Sailes at point guard. Goodley played on the junior varsity a year ago. Juniors Blayne McMullen (5-11) and John May (6-0), also up from the junior varsity, are the team’s top reserves.

OUTLOOK: Milic said Buckley will have to overachieve. “We averaged 89 points a game,” he said. “We have to keep running. We have to outhustle and outwork other teams, because we’re not going to out-height anybody.”

Campbell Hall

COACH: Joe Jackson, 3rd season

LAST SEASON: 9-14; 6th in league, 1-9

PLAYERS TO WATCH: The Vikings have a pair of returning starters in Lee Sprague (6-2, senior) and Scott Glass (6-6, sophomore). Sprague was an all-league selection last season after averaging 15.5 points and five rebounds. Factor in highly regarded Alex Lopez, a 6-10 freshman, and Campbell Hall has one of the area’s tallest front lines. The guard position seems set as well. Austin McKellar, a 6-1 sophomore transfer from talent-laden St. Monica High, starts at off-guard. C.J. Thompkins, an all-league junior-varsity selection last season as a freshman, will run the fast break from his point-guard position. Thompkins averaged 22 points and 10 assists a year ago and is a key to the team’s title hopes. Reserves Sean Wilder (6-4, junior) and Matt Fleming (6-4 senior) each lettered last season and provide punch and leadership off the bench. Taylor Williams, a 5-10 off-guard, is the team’s sixth man. Williams, a junior who skipped the past two seasons because of football injuries, did not play football this fall and is ready to play, Jackson said.

OUTLOOK: Expect the Vikings to run the floor more often this season. How that will help in the intensely competitive and up-tempo league is uncertain. “Playing in the Delphic League, you have to control the tempo,” Jackson said. “Everybody likes to run and I think we’ll be better at that this year.” Jackson refers to the league as the “Big East,” because of its strength from top to bottom: League members Faith Baptist and Brentwood advanced to the Southern Section 1-A semifinals last season, Crossroads is a perennial postseason threat and Bel-Air Prep won the 1-A title in 1989. Jackson said he hopes defenses try to key on Lopez inside, which will open the door for Glass, Sprague and Thompkins.

Faith Baptist

COACH: Stuart Mason, 2nd season

LAST SEASON: 21-11; 3rd in league, 7-3

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Four of five starters return from the Southern Section 1-A Division championship team of a year ago, giving the Contenders perhaps their strongest team ever. All-Southern Section selection Alex Estrada (5-9) averaged 19.8 points, 7.4 assists and 3.2 steals last season from his point-guard position. Estrada was a Times All-Valley second-team selection. Off-guard Darren Wyre (5-10) averaged 11.7 points last season as a sophomore. Forward Fernando Garcia (6-3 1/2) averaged 12.8 points and eight rebounds as a junior. Peter Rasmussen (6-7), inserted into the starting lineup at center in midseason, averaged 13.7 points and 10 rebounds as a sophomore. Laurence Kennedy (6-2, senior) was the sixth man last season and fills the remaining starting position at forward. James DeCarriere (5-8, sophomore) is the team’s quickest player and will come off the bench. Reserves probably will play sparingly, however. In the Contenders’ playoff drive of a season ago, the starters did not leave the floor in three consecutive games.

OUTLOOK: The Contenders have the talent to offer strong defense of their 1-A Division crown. But Mason realizes there was an element of luck involved last year. “I’m not saying this out of a false sense of humility,” he said. “But last year in the playoffs, there were three or four games that could have gone either way. I’d like to reach (the championship game) and I’d like to think we can. But things need to fall into place again.”