Orange County Prep Review : Marketing of Basketball Becomes a Hot Topic

The (Basketball) Times They Are A Changin’ .

Hey, we know what you’re thinking. Another three-point line commentary. You’ve read it all before. You’re ready to chalk up a big ZZZZ in the boredom column, right?

Not so quick with the trigger, gunner.

This isn’t about the three-point line per se. No, let’s consider the 19-foot 9-inch abomination /greatest thing to happen to the game since breakaway sweat pants, as a big-time M and S’er (Mover and Shaker).

The line made its way to a couple of Orange County high school basketball leagues (Sunset and Freeway) this season.

The arguments against the three-point line say it ruins the very essence of team basketball. Supporters say it makes the game more exciting.

Whatever your feelings on the subject, let us assure you, we agree 100%.

But that’s not the purpose here. Whether you’re yea or nay on the three-point line, one thing has become clear in its wake. It’s not only opening up the game on the floor, but in the minds of coaches and administrators who package the sport.

Just last week, the coaches of the Angelus League voted to propose to their principals the use of the three-point line. They also proposed the use of league-opening extravaganzas, in which all six teams participate in one all-day session.

The coaches want to secure Loyola Marymount’s Gersten Pavilion to begin the first rotation of league competition, and UC Irvine’s Bren Center for the second.

The Garden Grove League coaches turned down the three-point line but did vote to propose to their principals a postseason tournament.

Coaches all over the county report that their usual run-of-the-mill meetings have become lively with discussion of innovations and renovations.

“We’ve discussed things like the 45-second shot clock at our latest meeting,” said Randy Forgette, Fullerton coach. “Things have really opened up. People, coaches seem a lot more willing to try new things. I think it comes back to the three-point line. It made people start to think that there are other possibilities here.”

And if you’re reading between those lines, you know that possibilities come down to dollars.

Postseason tournaments make for more games and more ticket-buying spectators. Three-point lines attract attention and ticket-buying spectators. A league-opening kickoff in a big arena brings together all the schools and all of their ticket-buying spectators.

“When you get right to the bottom of it, it all comes down to money,” said Paul Orris, Corona del Mar coach. “Funding for sports is getting tighter and tighter all the time. You’ve got to find ways of getting people interested and into the gym.”

Which seems to have the approval of the folks at the Southern Section office who have been aggressively marketing high school sports in the 1980s.

“We’ve been very aware that we’re competing in a tough sports market,” said Scott Cathcart, media and public relations director. “We’re very aware of marketing and publicity. I think a lot of the basketball people are catching on. They know they have a great product and they’re doing some things to effectively showcase it. The coming of the three-point line has really opened up the possibilities. I think it’s a pretty exciting time.”

Pardon Tex Wallis if he doesn’t applaud. Wallis, former La Habra coach, started his basketball coaching career in New Mexico in 1950. As you might have guessed, recent changes have not sat well with him.

“The whole thing bothers me,” he said. “I always thought high school basketball was a great game the way it was. But now you get these people trying to create excitement by tinkering.

“Maybe they’re having trouble getting people to come and see their games. But gimmicks aren’t going to bring people into a gymnasium. Good basketball is going to do that.”

Wallis especially dislikes the postseason tournament. He points to what happened in the Freeway League as a prime example.

Fullerton went 9-1 in the league but had to play in its postseason tournament without center and leading scorer Alan Lewis, who was ill. Fullerton lost two games and was eliminated. Orris, a first-year head coach, agreed with Wallis.

“If I had been in Fullerton’s position I don’t know what I would have done,” he said. “It’s just not fair. It’s that simple. These kids go out and earn a league championship, and then because of one turn of bad luck they don’t even get a sniff of what the playoffs are like. Not fair.”

Because of Fullerton, Garden Grove League coaches stipulated that its regular-season league champion would be guaranteed a playoff spot.

“We didn’t want another Fullerton happening to us,” said Jim Perry, La Quinta coach. “So even if the league champion loses in the first round, they’re guaranteed no worse than the third spot. We think that’s only fair.”

What’s fair and profitable and good for the game looks to be a hot subject for a time to come around coaches’ round(ball) tables. You can thank or hate the three-point line for that.

Life’s tough at the top: The Mater Dei songleading squad recently won the pom-pon division of the National Dance Championships in Orlando, Fla.

The competition was between 48 teams drawn from the 48 continental states. By winning, Mater Dei in essence is named national songleading champs.

This has prompted newspaper articles and television spots for the team’s members. It has also taught them a lesson on how tough life can be at the top.

During halftime of the Mater Dei boys’ basketball game against St. Anthony Friday, the songleaders attempted to take the floor to perform.

However, they were repeatedly turned away as waves of pep squads from St. Anthony held center stage. Songleaders, cheerleaders, flag twirlers.

This made the Mater Dei partisans angry enough to start chanting for their national champs. Which, in turn, made the St. Anthony crowd a bit peeved.

When Mater Dei finally took the floor it was to cheers, jeers and with both teams back on the floor.

They went on with their routine, and as usual did a pretty nifty job with those pom-pons, considering that the boos from St. Anthony’s side were so loud they drowned out the music.

Welcome to the big time.

Prep Notes

Registration for the American Roundball Corp. spring basketball league begins at 7 tonight at Westminster High School and at 7 Wednesday night at Troy High. The league is open to boys from the 8th through 12th grade and competition begins March 16. Registration fee is $55 cash or $60 if paying by check. For further information, telephone Rich Goldberg at (818) 893-1445. . . . The Southern California boys’ basketball regional finals are scheduled for March 14 in the Los Angeles Sports Arena. The winners will advance to the state championship games March 21 in the Oakland Coliseum Arena. . . . A scholarship fund has been established in the name of Nicole Clerc, a Laguna Hills High School student-athlete who died last summer. The Laguna Hills girls’ soccer team asks that those who would like to contribute make checks payable to the Nicole Clerc Memorial Scholarship Fund and send them to the fund c/o Laguna Hills High School, 25401 Paseo de Valencia, Laguna Hills, CA., 92653.