Calhoun Countdown: This week in basketball

The Mater Dei boys basketball team has been to Florida and Massachusetts.

When I was in high school, the only trip I made was to the La Brea Tar Pits. See how much things have changed.

The Monarchs and all of the other county teams are now setting their sights on the quick dash to the end of the regular season, which ends Feb. 12.

Now is not the time to go into a prolonged slump. I’m in midseason form.

Welcome to the Calhoun Countdown:

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1. Ben Howland is counting down the days until Tyler Lamb arrives?
If he’s not, then he should start the countdown ASAP. Lamb, Mater Dei’s senior guard, scored 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting with 11 rebounds in a 79-71 victory over DeMatha, ranked fourth in the nation, on Monday. While the present might be dark around the UCLA hoops program (last place in the Pac-10?!), the future appears to be a lot brighter with Lamb on the way.

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2. Welcome to the new kids on the block.
No, not the boy band of yesteryear (I heard Carlos Arias was a big fan), but the new teams who joined the top this week: Dana Hills and Corona del Mar. The Dolphins are in at No. 7 (I voted them seventh) and the Sea Kings are in at No. 10 (I voted them ninth). Will they stay there next week? Stay tuned.

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3. Antoine Johnson is filling up buckets for the Roadrunners.
The Saddleback senior guard has played 11 games. He has scored 356 points! That deserves another exclamation point (!). That’s an average of 32.3 points a game. That’s a mind-boggling stat. He has been held under 20 points only once this season. He has failed to hit 30 in just two games. All the others have read like a month of Bernard King games (34, 38, 34, 38, 47, 32, 34 and 31).

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4. DVR-ing high school basketball games.   
That’s my new thing now (along with DVR-ing soccer matches), but I made sure to record the Westchester-St. Anthony (N.J) game Monday. Westchester is very athletic and strong defensively. Kareem Jamar, Dwayne Polee, Jordin Mayes are enough to give opponents headaches. How many days until the possible Mater Dei-Westchester title game?

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5. Two undefeated teams remain in the South Coast League.
We’re down to two (Mission Viejo and Dana Hills) and they’re playing each other Wednesday. The Diablos have won their first three league games by an average of 13.6 points. Dana Hills has had to sweat out its three victories, winning by an average of 4.3 points.

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6. Ben Hayes scores ... and so does Ray Getz.
Mission Viejo's Ben Hayes, who has committed UC Irvine, is averaging 15 points in league games. Getz is averaging 13.3 points for Dana Hills. So who leads his team to victory Wednesday? Calhoun’s prediction: Mission Viejo (I think). The only thing I'm sure of is that someone will fall from the ranks of the undefeated.

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7. Life on the road in the Freeway League.
Sunny Hills, fresh off its upset of Sonora last week and now ranked in the county’s Top 25, hits the road and will be at La Habra on Friday night. If it the atmosphere is anything like it was for the Sunny Hills game at Sonora, then this will be a crazy night.

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8. Jae Byun should be the leading candidate for Sunny Hills Athlete of the Year
Byun rushed for 1,106 yards and 12 touchdowns for the Lancer football team. He’s averaging 15 points a night now. Will he lead the Lancers to another big road victory? Calhoun’s prediction: Sunny Hills remains perfect. Byun Power!

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9. Marina looking to be a player in the Sunset League.
With the injuries that have hit the Edison Chargers, that could mean an opening for the Vikings to step in. Edison did win the first meeting between the two teams. Marina has a big challenge Friday against league-favorite Los Alamitos.

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10. Brendan Holmes is a player to watch.
The senior guard is the sixth-leading scorer in the county (386 points). He is averaging 21.4 points a night and 23.4 in the first three league games. How will he do at home Friday against the Griffins? Calhoun’s prediction: Big numbers for Holmes in a Marina victory.