PALOMAR LEAGUE PREVIEW : Mt. Carmel’s Start Lends Momentum Going Into League

You have to go back to 1982 when the Palomar League did not have a dominant boys’ basketball team.

That predates Shane Knight, Courtie Miller and even Jud Buechler.

With a seven-game winning streak at the end of last season and the return of a couple of key players, everyone was quick to point to Rancho Buena Vista this season as the county’s preseason No. 1, but the Longhorns are off to a mortal 5-6 start, having played teams mostly from outside of San Diego County.

Mt. Carmel lost the best player, Knight, and three other starters to graduation, but is off to its best start in school history.

Poway returns six players who had extensive varsity experience, but lost its coach, Neville Saner.

So who’s going to win? It could be anyone, really.

“Three or four losses will win it,” said Doug Wealch, Saner’s successor. “I would be very surprised if any team has two losses. If they want to give us two losses (for the season) right now, we’d take it.”

Mt. Carmel Coach John Marincovich likes Poway this season.

“Poway has the edge because they have six players with considerable experience coming back,” he said. “If anything, their defense will get tougher; (Wealch) is the best defensive coach I’ve ever been associated with. If anybody is going to be defensed properly, they will be by Poway.”

OK, but Mt. Carmel is still ranked No. 2 in the county. THE RACE

Top contenders: Mt. Carmel (20-5 in 1989-90), Poway (16-7) and Rancho Buena Vista (15-10)

Surprise potential: Torrey Pines (26-4), Fallbrook (16-10) and San Dieguito (9-15).

Hoping for improvement: Vista (4-18) and Orange Glen (0-21).

Game of the year: Rancho Buena Vista at Mt. Carmel, Feb. 15. The final game of the season should determine the league champion and could determine the No. 1 seed in the Division I playoffs. THE PLAYERS

The man: Darryl Parker, a 6-foot-6 senior who averaged 24 points and 14 rebounds last year, keyed Rancho Buena Vista’s season-ending seven-game win streak that prompted everyone to look at the Longhorns as the preseason No. 1 pick.

He already signed to play at UC Santa Barbara so the recruiting process wouldn’t detract from his season.

“He’s a great player,” Wealch said. “He can shoot, take it to the hole, rebound; what can’t he do?”

The Longhorns began the season with three losses and enter league play with a 5-6 overall record. Said another Palomar League coach, “He may be the best player in the county. . . . His team doesn’t go to him as much as they should.”

RBV Coach John O’Neill might take note.

“I have a smile on my face every day I see him healthy,” O’Neill said.

Parker, currently averaging 26.9 points per game, has been bothered by back spasms the past three weeks, but he should still be the early favorite to win the slam dunk contest at the end of the season.

Who will fill Shane Knight’s shoes? Ryan Wootton, Mt. Carmel, sort of. There’s nothing funny about the guy with the funny-looking last name. Last season, he was a role player for the Sundevils, who reached the section finals. With four starters graduating, Wootton (6-4) has supplied inside power on both ends of the court as Mt. Carmel bolted to victories in its first 10 games. He’s averaging 24 points per game.

Mt. Carmel junior Chris Goode (6-5) and senior Andy Shantz (6-2) can also play big roles if Mt. Carmel is to repeat as league champions. Poway’s Kirk Hipple (6-5) came off the bench last year and could provide a key element for Poway. Another newcomer, Fallbrook junior Steve Pack (6-3), is a guard whose strong court sense and shooting touch should complement Chris Miller.

Others to watch on offense: RBV’s Brad Grubaugh averaged 19 points last year and should be fun to watch as defenses focus on Parker. He’s scored 40 points twice this season and is averaging 25 points entering tonight’s game against Poway.

It’s always tough to win in Fallbrook. First, there’s the 30-minute drive. Second, there’s Chris Miller, a second-team all-league player last year as a sophomore. He is averaging 23 points and, in many cases, will make that 30-minute drive home just a little longer.

Two sharpshooters from San Dieguito, Matt de la Pena (19.0 points per game last season) and Sean Howard (15), are averaging 23 and 21 points this season. San Dieguito Coach Dave LaBorde said de la Pena is the best player the school has had, that “he’s the definition of gym rat and he has the brains to go with it.” He also has made 27 consecutive free-throws, four short of tying the section record.

Poway’s Kyle Milling, a 6-7 junior center, should lead the Titans more often than not, though Poway doesn’t need to rely on just one player.

Two other players might be the best athletes this side of Parker: Torrey Pines’ Bill Scheibe and Mt. Carmel’s Dana Pope, both of whom create offense often because of their defense.

And then there’s Vista, which shoots so much you never know who’s going to score the points. Chances are that Jason Barnes is going to have the hot hand most often.

Others to watch on defense: LaBorde said that if he were beginning a team from scratch, he would pick Scheibe, a hard worker with the right competitive temperament, and Grubaugh, who was RBV’s defensive player of the year two years ago when he was a sophomore.

In addition to ultra-quick Scheibe and Pope, Poway’s Mark Wuchner and Bill Rarity can provide instant offense with their defense.

John Allred, a 6-4 junior at Torrey Pines, plays like he’s 6-7 and will guard the opponent’s best scoring threat. He is younger, 16, than some of the sophomores on the team.

While Howard and de la Pena get the headlines, Tim Fleming (6-3) does all the dirty work against bigger post players and is a key for San Dieguito’s success.

The same goes for Fallbrook’s Alan Yang, a 5-11 guard, and Miller. THE INTANGIBLES

Making chicken salad ... : Mt. Carmel’s John Marincovich lost four starters this season but got off to the best start in school history, 10-0. Marincovich, in his 16th year as the Sundevil coach, is the dean of the league, with a 269-126 record entering the year.

They’rrree back: Doug Wealch coached at Poway for 1 1/2 years before resigning in 1983, but replaced Neville Saner a few weeks after Saner resigned last March. Wealch was 13-18 at Poway the first go-round.

Dave LaBorde (61-56 entering this season) coached at San Dieguito for six years, left to concentrate on administrative duties for four years, and is back again.

The winning edge: Talk to a coach, ask him what he thinks about the league, and he’ll probably praise his colleagues.

In addition to Marincovich, Wealch and LaBorde, consider the records of the league’s other coaches at the programs they lead: John Farrell (110-15) is in his fifth year at Torrey Pines, Russ Keith (41-33) is in his fourth at Fallbrook (41-33), John O’Neill (32-45) is in his fourth year at RBV, Joe Liebentritt (0-21) is in his second year at Orange Glen.

No day at the park: The last thing any team should do is take another lightly. Rancho Buena Vista beat rival Vista in the preseason but allowed 103 points in the process. And Orange Glen, which is coming off an 0-21 season, is also the biggest team in the league, boasting a front line of John Burns (6-9), Dan Moses (6-8) and Brian Scofield (6-6).