Gary McKnight’s coaching record at Mater Dei is 1,028-90. His Monarchs teams have won 11 CIF State championships and 22 CIF-Southern Section championships.
So it catches the attention whenever McKnight says his current team is especially strong in any category.
That category this season is depth.
“We can go 10 deep this year,” said McKnight, going into his 34th season at Mater Dei. “This is one of the deeper teams we’ve had in a long time.”
As usual, the Monarchs have highly recruited standouts, led by 6-foot-10 center MJ Cage, who signed with Oregon this month, and 6-1 point guard Spencer Freedman who transferred from Santa Monica where he was a starter last year as a freshman.
Mater Dei went 34-2 last season and played in the CIF State Open Division championship game in which the Monarchs lost in overtime to Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland.
Talent plus depth could equal another fine season for Mater Dei.
More in the boys basketball preview for 2015-16:
Boys basketball preview: O.C. top 10
Boys basketball preview: Top players to watch
Boys basketball preview: Other players to watch
Boys basketball preview: Important dates
Taking a look around the county basketball scene:
• Mater Dei is No. 3 in the California preseason top 35 compiled by CalHiSports.com, behind No. 1 Chino Hills and No. 2 Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth. The only other Orange County team in the top 35 is Orange Lutheran, at No. 18. Los Alamitos and Santa Margarita were in the “just missed” category.
• Among the teams that could move into the top 10 at any point of the season is JSerra. Alec Hickman, a 6-4 senior guard who committed to Cal, led the Lions in scoring last year and is among four returning starters. Sebastian Much, a 6-8 junior, transferred to JSerra from Archbishop Mitty of San Jose where he was a crucial player on Mitty’s team that played in the CIF State finals. Much spent his freshman year at St. Margaret’s.
• Irshaad Hunte, All-CIF selection in Division 5AA last season at Saddleback Valley Christian as a junior, transferred out of the school after his family moved out of the area.
• Orange County produced three CIF-SS champions last season: Foothill, in Division 1A; Canyon, 2AA; Sonora, 3AA; and Orangewood, 6. All had CIF players of the year who have graduated.
• Esperanza junior Kezie Okpala (6-foot-6) has received a scholarship offer from UC Irvine. Okpala, who has a 4.4 grade-point average, also is being actively recruited by Cal, Stanford and Harvard.
• Among the early-season events are the Canyon/Esperanza Tip-Off Classic that starts Monday and continues through Dec. 5. First-round games Monday include Servite at Canyon and Sonora at Esperanza, both 7:30 p.m. games.
• Today at Ocean View is “Coaches for a Cause,” an eight-game fundraiser (seven boys games, one girls game). Proceeds go to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Bishop Montgomery, No. 4 in the California preseason rankings, plays county No. 2 Santa Margarita at 7:30 p.m.
• The 17th Orange County North/South Challege is Dec. 21 and 22 at El Toro. It is a 13-game event. Among the matchups is O.C. No. 3 Orange Lutheran vs. No. 4 Los Alamitos on Dec. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
• The Nike Extravaganza, is Feb. 5 and 6 at Mater Dei. It is loaded with state-ranked teams. Go to materdei.org for the schedule and ticket information.
• CIF-SS finals are March 4 and 5 at Honda Center, Azusa Pacific University and Godinez High. The CIF Southern California Regionals, the qualifying tournament for the CIF State Championships, are March 9-19. State finals are at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, March 24 and 26.
• CIF-SS playoff divisional brackets will be 32-team brackets, except the Open Division which at the most is a 16-team bracket. Wild-card round games will be played in Divisions 1AA to 6 only to reduce the field of qualifiers to 32 teams. At-large teams will be accepted only in divisions that lack 32 automatic qualifiers.
• Four-team leagues have two guaranteed playoff entries. Five-and six-team leagues have three guaranteed playoff entries. Seven- and eight-team leagues have four guaranteed entries.
• Via the CIF-SS playoff points-profiles system, teams will move up to higher divisions if they have had playoff success in recent years. Among the Orange County teams that have moved up is Canyon, 2AA champion last season that is in 1AA this season.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
