Had Stars Gone Public, Wealth Would Have Been Shared : Basketball: Parochial-school standouts such as Simon, the Finnerans and Jackson might have made a big impact on teams in their home districts.

With baseball in full swing, the prep basketball season will have its last hurrah with the annual Orange County all-star games Saturday at Orange Coast College.

But some might snicker and point out that no team assembled can match Orange County’s unofficial boys’ all-star team--the one located at the corner of Bristol and Edinger in Santa Ana.

Mater Dei’s high-profile, high-top-wearing Monarchs won their third consecutive Southern Section championship this season with a talented roster of players from Brea to Balboa.

Mater Dei and Coach Gary McKnight came within four points of their dream--a trip to the State final--and only that 71-67 loss to Los Angeles Crenshaw in the Southern California regional final blemished a 33-victory season.

Parochial schools Santa Margarita and Servite also had exceptional seasons. The two reached the Division III-AA championship game, which Santa Margarita won, 67-53.

But what if there were no parochial schools in the county? What would have happened last season if the top athletes from those schools attended their home schools?

Picture this:

--Valencia High running back Chris Draft mugging with schoolmate Miles Simon on signing day wearing identical T-shirts saying “Pac-10 or Bust.”

--Brad and Brian Finneran receiving co-most valuable player awards at the Mission Viejo banquet . . . for both football and basketball.

--Clay McKnight and Todd Thornton, two of the best three-point shooters in Orange County, matching each other shot-for-shot while playing for Capistrano Valley.

Here’s a look at some pieces of this dream season.

WHO’s NO. 1?

Without Mater Dei, there would be some debate as to which team would have been the best in the county.

Santa Ana Valley and Los Alamitos--the teams that finished tied for second behind Mater Dei in the final Orange County coaches’ poll--would have been prime candidates.

But the addition of Mater Dei’s Shaun Jackson, a second-team all-county selection who lives within Santa Ana Valley’s attendance boundaries, might have lifted the Falcons to the top.

“To get a post player the quality of Shaun, and have one of the best guards in the country in Olujimi Mann, it would have been fun,” said Rich Prospero, Santa Ana Valley coach.

Prospero lamented his undersized team all season long, but Jackson, a 6-foot-7, 205-pound junior forward, would have filled a void in the middle. His presence would have enabled All-Century League selection Darnell Adamson to move from the post to his more natural position at forward.

With Mann, a sophomore all-county point guard who transferred from Mater Dei at the beginning of the school year, and the three-point shooting of Alex Fletcher, Michael Riggins and Carlos Quezada to balance the inside scoring of Jackson and Adamson, the Falcons might have advanced past the Division I-AA semifinals, where they lost to division runner-up La Crescenta Crescenta Valley.

“It was nice to get Olujimi this year,” Prospero said. “But if Shaun came here, too, I think I would have bought Gary a giant beer.”

THE ARCHITECT AND SON

What if McKnight, also the athletic director at Mater Dei, had never built that basketball empire? One of the beneficiaries would have been his friend, Capistrano Valley Coach Mark Thornton.

Thornton and the Cougars wouldn’t have to contend with the Monarchs for the South Coast League title and McKnight’s son, Clay, would have attended Capistrano Valley.

Clay McKnight, a second-team all-county selection, would have made one of the county’s best three-point shooting attacks into one of the best ever.

Thornton’s son, Mark, forward Brandon Puffer and Clay McKnight combined to make 218 three-point baskets during the 1993-94 regular season. Rolling Hills holds the Southern Section record with 234 three-pointers in 1989-90.

“There would have been some discussions as to who would be getting the three-pointers,” quipped Gary McKnight, who lives in Mission Viejo. “Mark and I coached our sons together in the youth leagues, and I would have loved to see Clay play for Mark.”

TWIN TOWERS

Brad and Brian Finneran helped bring Santa Margarita’s athletic program to new heights last season. But what if they had attended their home school, Mission Viejo?

As first-team all-county selections in football and second-team selections in basketball last season, the Finnerans would have made a significant impact on the Diablo program.

The Finnerans helped Santa Margarita’s football team finish second in the county’s toughest league, the Sea View, and also helped the Eagles win the school’s first Southern Section basketball championship.

The Finnerans might not have brought Mission Viejo’s football program back to prominence by themselves, but the Diablos would have finished better than 4-6.

And basketball would have been interesting.

Imagine this intriguing matchup: Capistrano Valley’s three-point shooting trio of McKnight, Puffer and Thornton vs. Mission Viejo’s inside game of the Finnerans--for a league title?

THE FRANCHISE

Miles Simon was selected The Times Orange County boys’ basketball player of the year for the second consecutive season after leading the Monarchs to a 33-1 record. But he could have been a Tiger.

If Simon had attended his home school, Valencia, it would have boasted two of the county’s highest-profile recruits.

Simon’s would-be schoolmate, linebacker-running back Chris Draft, was The Times’ back of the year in football. Draft has signed a letter of intent to play at Stanford.

Simon, a 6-4 point guard who averaged 21 points, signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Arizona. The Wildcats won the Pac-10 and reached the Final Four this past season.

“If Miles would have come here, our previous coach, John Cyrus, probably wouldn’t have resigned,” Valencia Coach Dean Yoshimura joked.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING?

Is it a realistic expectation that one outstanding player could have a significant impact on a basketball team?

Would Servite’s Mark Seaton, a 6-9 center, have helped Cypress finish better than fourth in the Empire League, and perhaps challenge Los Alamitos for the league title? Would Servite forward David Downs have helped Canyon improve on its fourth-place finish in the Century League? Both were all-league performers.

Instead of just speculating, let’s look at how Mann helped Santa Ana Valley this season.

Mann, a 6-4 guard, was a backup point guard at Mater Dei during the 1992-93 season. Last year, he averaged 21.9 points, 7.2 assists and 6.6 rebounds for Santa Ana Valley, which came within three points of the Division I-AA final.

Although the Falcons had two other transfers--Adamson from Santa Ana and Dion Smith from Tustin--Mann was the main cog in Valley’s offense.

McKnight conceded that many of his players would have succeeded elsewhere, but he also pointed out that the talent depth and competition at Mater Dei helped all of his players develop.

“You don’t know how players will develop in a different environment,” McKnight said. “Here, a 6-5 kid who might be playing center at his home school could play guard for us and all of a sudden, he’s a college prospect because he’s not playing out of position.”

Survival of the fittest at Mater Dei has been a tradition. Simon took his lumps in practice against Reggie Geary, who currently starts for Arizona. Simon taught those same harsh lessons to Mater Dei freshman Kevin Augustine this season.

“Reggie stole and blocked everything from Miles during his sophomore year,” McKnight said. “So Miles developed and worked up to that level. Miles worked over Kevin every day in practice this year. Nothing mean-spirited or anything, but Kevin will improve because of it.”

Yoshimura brought up another point of view.

“I think if a student wants to work hard to achieve things, he will,” Yoshimura said. “But if Miles came here, we would have done our best to make him a better player.

“There’s no doubt you get great coaching at Mater Dei, but the individual has to put the work in to succeed.”

And that success comes a lot harder than it does in dreams.