Depth Is Not the Issue for Saddleback Men

The first four weeks of the men’s basketball season have been enjoyable as well as frustrating for Saddleback Coach Bill Brummel.

Brummel, in his 19th season, is happy his team is winning. Saddleback (8-2) has won one tournament and finished second in two others.

But Brummel isn’t thrilled with the way the group has preformed.

“I don’t think we’ve played as well as our record,” said Brummel, who got his 350th victory as Saddleback’s head coach last week. “We’ve just been able to pull some games out where we didn’t play that well. I think we could be a lot further along.”

Brummel is thrilled to have so many talented players and more depth than he has ever had. But he’s bothered that none has established himself as a “go-to guy.”

He prefers a rotation of seven or eight players but has been using 12 or 13 this season.

Only two players--freshman forward Mike Donegan (11 points per game) and sophomore guard Semaj Johnson (10.7)--are scoring in double figures.

Sophomore guard Donzell Hayes leads the team in assists, averaging 3.2, and freshman forward Rahshaw McAfee is tops in rebounding at 6.8 a game.

“I’d like to see someone separate [himself] from the pack.” Brummel said.

Brummel’s wish for a player or two to take over the offense might have something to do with a trip he made to Los Angeles Monday.

He watched former Saddleback standout Anthony Carter score a career-high 20 points for the Miami Heat in a victory over the Clippers.

Carter, a guard, was twice the Orange Empire Conference player of the year for the Gauchos and led them to the state tournament in 1996.

He went on to Hawaii, where he started for two years, and he caught the eye of Heat Coach Pat Riley over the summer.

Injuries have given Carter a chance to start and he also had a big game Wednesday, scoring 14 in a victory at Portland.

Brummel talked with Carter for a few minutes after the game and said he is pretty much the same humble player he was while at Saddleback.

“He’s got the same moves he had here but now he’s taken them to a different level,” Brummel said.

FOOTBALL HONORS

Santa Ana running back Camron King, who set the college’s single-season and career rushing records, was selected as a J.C. Grid-Wire second-team All-American.

King, from Savanna High, had 1,567 yards this season and 2,533 in two years.

Palomar quarterback Greg Cicero (Servite High) and Cerritos linebacker Jack Tucker (Kennedy) also made the second team.

Honorable mention picks were: Cerritos running back Brian McDonald (Buena Park High), Saddleback defensive back Chad Harris (Woodbridge) and Fullerton punter Jayson Simpson (Pacifica).

Santa Ana running back Joseph Tagaloa (Saddleback High) and Orange Coast defensive back Bobby Johnson (Trabuco Hills) were J.C. Grid-Wire scholar-athlete All-Americans.

CHECK YOUR LISTINGS

Hancock (10-1) and San Francisco (11-0) meet in the state championship football game at 1 p.m. today at Fresno College.

The game will be shown live locally on some cable outlets.

Media One plans to broadcast the game in Cypress and La Palma on Channels 78 and 35, in Costa Mesa on Channel 3 and in Tustin on Channel 33.

The telecast is being handled by VIMA Productions of San Jose and is the first of four scheduled championship telecasts.

The company will also telecast the men’s and women’s basketball state championship games from Stockton on March 11 and the state championship softball game May 14 in Fresno.