Basketball Race Shapes Up as Rerun : Defending Champions Ventura, Santa Monica Favored in Realigned WSC

Santa Monica and Ventura.

That is the answer, which comes without hesitation, from Western State Conference basketball coaches asked to name the favorites in this season’s race for the WSC title.

“Those two are head and shoulders above everyone else in the conference talent-wise,” Glendale Coach Brian Beauchemin said. “Everybody else is right there together.”

Santa Monica and Ventura shared the championship last season with 11-2 records, and no one affiliated with the conference is bold enough to predict that it might not be a similar scenario this time around.

The WSC has been slightly realigned after the defection of Allan Hancock College to the Central Valley Conference and the entry of Valley and West Los Angeles.

Valley, which played in the Southern California Conference last season, and West L. A. will join the South Division, which also includes Santa Monica, Canyons, Glendale and Bakersfield. The North Division comprises Ventura, Moorpark, Cuesta, Santa Barbara and Oxnard.

Santa Monica Coach John McMullen grudgingly admits that his Corsairs may be the team to beat.

“I suppose on our preseason record and returning lettermen that’s the case,” said McMullen, whose team is 15-3 and has won the Rancho Santiago, Compton, Merced and Pasadena tournaments. “If that’s true, we’re not that far ahead of anybody else. I’ve seen Valley, Canyons, Moorpark and Glendale, and they’re all competitive.”

Indeed, all of the Valley-area teams have tasted success during the preconference schedule.

Canyons (9-8), though plagued by inconsistency, has looked spectacular at times.

The Cougars finished 8-5 in the WSC last season and made the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. This season, they finished second in the Glendale tournament.

Lee Smelser, in his 20th season as coach at Canyons, said the WSC likely will be one of the best conferences in the state. Whether his team will be among the best in the conference, however, will depend on its ability to eliminate mistakes.

“We’re in a manner of transition, trying to be halfway decent and struggling,” said Smelser, whose team opens WSC play Tuesday at West L. A. “We haven’t been able to put the whole package together. That’s been kind of frustrating.”

For a variety of reasons, Glendale (9-6) lost 4 players--potentially, a strong nucleus--from a young team that finished 6-7 in the WSC last season.

The Vaqueros, who open WSC play Wednesday at Santa Monica, are once again a young outfit, but the team has shown steady improvement despite its youth.

“We’re doing all right considering what happened,” said Beauchemin, who is in his 10th season with the Vaqueros. “The players are starting to respond.”

Valley (10-6), which joins the WSC after competing in the Southern California Conference, has a talented team led by center Oral Elrington and could give some teams trouble if the Monarchs are able to develop depth. Valley’s first test comes Wednesday at Bakersfield.

Moorpark (8-7 entering the weekend), though dominated by freshmen, should improve steadily under Al Nordquist, who is in his 22nd season with the Raiders.

Point guard Roger Thomas, a freshman from Leuzinger High, is averaging 10.9 points a game to lead the Raiders. Moorpark opens its conference schedule Wednesday at home against Cuesta.

Oxnard, which finished 1-12 last season, is the most improved team in the WSC. Santa Barbara won its own tournament and also is considered a conference dark horse.

But in a conference with Santa Monica and Ventura, every team is a long-shot to displace the reigning co-champions.

Ventura (13-2 entering the weekend) might have lost conference MVP Cedric Ceballos, but the Pirates have been buoyed by the play of all-conference point guard Tony Walker, who is averaging 9.6 assists, and freshman forward Reggie Betton, who is averaging 13.9 points.

Ventura, which opens WSC play Wednesday at Santa Barbara, has won the Cypress and Ventura tournaments.

Santa Monica has 7 players back from a team that lost to Merced in the quarterfinals of the state tournament last season, including All-WSC forward Keith Amerson, forwards Von Shuler and Kemo Patrick and guards DeShawn Pullard and Troy Batiste, all of whom average more than 10 points.

“It looks to me as if this is one of the strongest conferences overall in Southern California,” McMullen said. “I feel that everybody has a team that can beat anybody else on a given night.”