Their Season Has Not Been a Work of Art

Laguna Beach hadn’t just fallen on hard times in the weeks following the resignation of longtime Coach Bret Fleming in October.

It had fallen off a cliff.

Three prominent players quit the team. Others couldn’t sleep for days, distraught over the loss of their successful and popular coach.

Things deteriorated further once the season started. The Artists suffered the second-worst defeat in school history when they lost by 58 points to Mission Viejo in their opener. In another lopsided loss, to Dana Hills, Laguna Beach played the last few minutes of the fourth quarter with only four players because the other five had fouled out.

“It was a scary situation,” said Clayton Olivier, who took over the coaching duties only two weeks before the opener. “It was like, ‘What can you do?’ You work the ball inside and the guy would be wide open for a layup and completely miss it.”

Few doubt that the Artists (4-11), who suffered their third consecutive defeat Friday when they lost to then-No. 10 Edison, 70-45, are in for a long season. Even Arthur “Skipper” Carrillo, the Artists’ 62-year-old ambassador of goodwill who rarely misses a game, has come around with less frequency.

But through all the tears and headaches and moments when players have felt like there’s no reason to push forward, the Artists have learned more important lessons than how to set a screen.

“I’ve learned that no matter what you get in life, you have to accept it,” said senior point guard Will Blodgett, the Artists’ only player with varsity experience. “You have to go 100% all the time, work your hardest, no matter what you have.

“Our team is rebuilding from the basement up, and it’s been really tough. I’ve been really angry a lot of times. But I’ve been taught all my life that I can’t walk away from something once I start it. I made a commitment and I’m going to stick to it and get the ultimate out of the experience.”

Senior guard David Foes did a lot of soul-searching before deciding to stick with the team. It helped that Fleming, who resigned over an unspecified “matter of principle,” coaxed Foes to stay.

But despite Fleming’s best efforts, guard Jason Boyd, forward Trevor Lyle and center Jesse Duker left the program, transforming what had looked like a solid team into a subpar one.

“It makes me feel bad because they should probably be out there playing,” said Fleming, who took the Artists to the playoffs in nine of his 10 seasons. “They should have stayed out there and continued to work hard.”

The players who did stay faced a difficult transition. Even though Olivier had been a varsity assistant under Fleming, many players felt they didn’t really know him because he had been a walk-on coach who made it to few practices.

“We would joke, ‘Who’s this guy?’ every time we saw him,” Foes said.

There was little doubt that Olivier, the 6-foot-10 center from Los Amigos who started at USC and became a journeyman at the pro level, knew basketball. He had already completed one reclamation project after taking Los Amigos from mediocrity to respectability as coach from 1989 to 1993.

But many Laguna Beach players blanched when he installed new offensive and defensive schemes shortly before the start of the season. The Artists employed a 2-3 zone on defense, and on offense, well, it was hard to tell what they were running.

The team’s difficulty adjusting to its new sets showed when it lost five of its first six games.

Against Edison Friday, the Artists often worked the ball around the perimeter only to heave an off-balance airball from behind the three-point line as the shot clock expired.

It was a far cry from last season, when guard Travis Hanour and center Chris Manker led a crisp-passing, sharp-shooting team to the playoffs. Both have graduated, Hanour moving on to play for Arizona and Manker for Oregon State.

The loss of the two Division I players, coupled with the preseason defections, left the Artists unable to fill two teams. So the varsity practices with the junior varsity.

Olivier has preached patience as he teaches the finer points of the game, such as bringing the ball up court against pressure. He has seen progress in his players’ game--and their attitudes.

“They’re getting better,” said Olivier. “Before, there was a lot of rebelling. Now, they understand where I’m coming from.”

Laguna Beach got a boost last week when it posted a 79-66 victory over Calvary Chapel. And luckily for the Artists, their Pacific Coast League opponents also appear considerably weaker this season. Blodgett said his team, which opens league play Wednesday against Corona del Mar, is ready to put the tough times behind it.

“Our team is understanding a couple of things now--that [Fleming] is gone, that he’s not coming back,” Blodgett said. “We know that it’s time to work hard and get on with the season.”