Even the coach is impressed.

And it's difficult to impress Gary McKnight, who has coached Mater Dei's boys basketball program to seven CIF State championships and 19 CIF-Southern Section titles, and got his 800th career victory last week.

"This team," McKnight said, "is definitely one of the best we've ever had."

The Monarchs went 35-1 last year, and the top four players from that team are back: the 6-foot-10 Wear twins, David and Travis, seniors who signed with North Carolina; 6-8 senior Andy Brown, who signed with Stanford; and 6-3 junior guard Gary Franklin, who committed to USC.

Completing the starting five is 6-4 junior Tyler Lamb, who transferred from Colony of Ontario. He committed to UCLA.

"We're very versatile," said McKnight, in his 27th season coaching the Monarchs. "The two big guys, the twins, are very athletic and the guards are very talented, too. To have a starting five like this is pretty rare."

Losses during McKnight's tenure have been rare (he is 801-74), but he expects this year's team still will have a few by the time the CIF-Southern Section playoffs come around, in February.

Mater Dei's schedule includes the City of Palms Tournament, Dec. 18-23 in Fort Myers, Fla., which includes seven of the top eight teams in USA Today's national rankings.

The Monarchs also play No. 17 Whitney Young of Chicago in January in Massachusetts, No. 6 St. Benedict's of New Jersey in the Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei on Feb. 7, and county preseason top 10 teams Orange Lutheran and Santa Margarita in the Trinity League.

Click on the following links for details on the O.C. basketball preview Top 10:

•No. 1 Mater Dei.
•No. 2 Los Alamitos.
•No. 3 Tesoro.
•No. 4 Capistrano Valley.
•No. 5 Ocean View.
•No. 6 Orange Lutheran.
•No. 7 Huntington Beach.
•No. 8 Santa Margarita.
•No. 9 El Toro.
•No. 10 Brea Olinda.

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com