HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL ‘93-’94 : Northwest Valley Conference : WEST VALLEY LEAGUE

Chatsworth

‘92-93 RECORD

OVERALL: 14-11

LEAGUE: 8-2

COACH: Sandy Greentree

YEAR: 3rd



TOP RETURNEES YR POS HT Philbert Hernandez Sr. G 5-4 Trenell Floyd Sr. F 6-4 Marcel Wilson Sr. F 6-5 Tariq Hill Jr. G 6-3

TOP NEWCOMERS YR POS HT Eddie Miller So. C 6-7 Jerome Joseph So. G 5-11 T.J. McCoy So. G/F 6-3 Isaiah Thomas Fr. G 5-11 Tim Garrick So. G 5-11 Lee Larsen Jr. F 6-3

OUTLOOK

Chatsworth has a plethora of talent, much of it of the fuzzy-cheeked variety. “We’re very young, so I think we’ll get better as we go,” said Greentree, whose team shared the league title last season. “We have a bunch of players who weren’t with us over the summer, so we’re starting from scratch.” Miller, a transfer from Notre Dame, is a definite major-college prospect. Joseph was an All-Southern Section pick last year as a freshman at Montclair Prep and McCoy was an impact player at Faith Baptist. Hernandez and Floyd were all-league selections last season and Wilson, who will miss a month because of a knee injury, was a second-team pick. Chatsworth will find out where it rates when it plays next month in the Above the Rim Tournament in San Diego. Several national powers are entered.

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Cleveland

‘92-93 RECORD

OVERALL: 14-9

LEAGUE: 8-2

COACH: Kevin Crider

YEAR: 4th



TOP RETURNEES YR POS HT Jermaine Hall Sr. F 6-3 Roderick Jones Sr. C 6-7 Edtwaun Adams Sr. G 6-2 Curtis Johnson Jr. G 6-0 Jimmy Harris Sr. F 6-5 Eric Bible Jr. G 6-0

TOP NEWCOMERS YR POS HT Louis Fernandez Sr. F 6-5 Rudolph Henry Jr. G 6-4 Rasheen Smith Jr. G 5-11

OUTLOOK

Cleveland lost its best player, All-City pick Shawn Bankhead, who averaged 25.1 points a game. Several impact players return, however, for the defending league co-champions. Adams packs the most offensive power of the bunch after averaging 9.4 points as a junior. Hall and Jones give the Cavaliers a superior front line. Adams and Jones were second-team all-leaguers last season. Finding a point guard to run the show will be of paramount importance. “We’re up and down,” Crider said. “We’ll have to wait and see.” If the Cavaliers come together, Crider said they will battle Chatsworth for the league title. “Anybody can be beaten in this league,” Crider said. This season marks the first that Crider will be using players developed in the program during his tenure.

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Kennedy

‘92-93 RECORD

OVERALL: 8-17

LEAGUE: 2-8

COACH: Yutaka Shimizu

YEAR: 11th



TOP RETURNEES YR POS HT Dante Jones Jr. G 5-9 Nakia Gorden Jr. F 6-1 Keith Brydon Jr. C 6-3 Jelani Janisse Jr. F 6-0

TOP NEWCOMERS YR POS HT Steve Osgood Jr. F 6-3 Marque Wilburn Jr. G 5-9 Trivonne Scott Jr. G 5-7 Trace Gipson Jr. C 6-4 Ricky Thomas Jr. F 6-2 Andrew Udvarnoki So. G 6-1

OUTLOOK

It is no typographical error: Kennedy has no seniors. Jones, Gorden and Brydon all started last season, but a considerable offensive void was created when hot-shot guard Joe Wyatt graduated. He averaged 30 points a game, half of Kennedy’s typical output, and was an All-City pick. Shimizu, a tactical wizard who finds a way to keep Kennedy in the game, plans to offset the Golden Cougars’ lack of height by using multiple defenses and a motion offense. As the team matures, improvement could come. “As bad as we were last year . . . we should be better, though,” Shimizu said. “We’ll have to do some things (tactically) to hang with the good teams.”

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Taft

‘92-93 RECORD

OVERALL: 11-10

LEAGUE: 5-5

COACH: Jim Woodard

YEAR: 13th



TOP RETURNEES YR POS HT Lamont Magee Sr. G 6-1 Montoya Washington Sr. G 6-0 Ricky Steele Sr. F 6-4 Dave Goldman Sr. F 6-4 Matt Koblick Sr. G 5-8

TOP NEWCOMERS YR POS HT Ron Campbell So. F 6-1 Miles Blake Jr. G 6-0 Maurice Harris Jr. F 6-2 Alton Arrington Jr. F 6-2

OUTLOOK

Taft was dealt a devastating blow when senior center Johnny Williams, an All-City selection who averaged 18.2 points and 11.3 rebounds last season, was expelled from school for disciplinary reasons. Williams was the nucleus of the team. Now, Taft is relatively undersized. Other problems include a lack of experience at point guard with Magee, the shooting guard the past two seasons. “Getting into our offense when we’re being pressured is a big question,” Woodard said. Arrington was the league co-MVP last year for the junior varsity. Magee averaged 11.7 points and 4.5 assists as a junior. Steele will have to bang the boards to make up for the loss of Williams, who also averaged 3.8 blocked shots.