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Cascade Christian, St. Mary's the favorites in SCL Tim Pflug will spend half as much time coaching basketball this winter, but his team could see twice as much benefit. This doesn't compute? It does when you consider St. Mary's Pflug has pulled double duty the past three years, serving as the school's boys and girls basketball coach. He no longer will burn the candle at both ends. Instead, he'll guide only the boys team, a job he did well enough the past two years to be named the Southern Cascade League coach of the year. Pflug was able to coach both teams, he says, because he was surrounded by reliable assistant coaches. Still, it was a full plate. "It just got to be a little too much," says Pflug, who recently married, giving him all the more reason to spend less time on the court. "It takes up a lot of time devoting yourself to two teams." The boys and girls teams practiced back-to-back, which made for a long day, but Pflug says the most taxing part was the 10 minutes between games. If the girls lost the early game, he had trouble letting go. There also were feelings of guilt when he wasn't in the boys locker room before tip-off to "give a talk and let them know everything was all right. But they seemed to handle it well." Indeed, with the help of assistants Richard Faust and Dan Fiddler, the veteran Crusaders won the SCL boys title last year and advanced to the state tournament, where they placed eighth, ending up with a 20-7 record. The year before, St. Mary's was the league runner-up. There is a high standard for this year's team to live up to, but with Pflug around full time and with the return of senior point guard Thatcher Jones and junior post Michael Fiddler - each will be third-year starters - there's reason to believe it can be met. A poll of the league coaches makes St. Mary's and Cascade Christian co-favorites. Fiddler is one of two returning first-team all-league selections, the other being Lost River's Brad Johnson. The St. Mary's post averaged 13.9 points and six rebounds per game last year and has since added a few more pounds to his 6-foot-7 frame, putting him at about 190 pounds. "He's very toned, very defined," says Pflug. "He's much more muscular, and his jumping has improved a lot." Pflug says Fiddler works harder in the off-season than anyone he's coached, which might come in handy given teams often double- and triple-team him. A year ago, he could kick the ball out to a bevy of teammates capable of knocking down outside shots. "This year, we don't have that luxury," says Pflug, meaning Fiddler will have to challenge defenses, something the coach believes he's willing and able to do. Jones, meanwhile, will be asked to step up his scoring to make up for the losses of the graduated Chris Murphy and Jason Caplan, who averaged nearly 30 points a game between them. The 6-foot floor general's strength is defense, handling the ball and directing the offense. "He actually dribble penetrates very well," says Pflug, "and now he can set up for a 3-point shot and make it. You can't leave him alone." Newcomers to the starting lineup are 5-10 senior off guard Pete Staver, who played a lot of minutes in a reserve role last year and distinguished himself with fine play at state; and 6-4 senior wing Matt Burt, whom Pflug says might be the team's best athlete. Jared Sharp, a 6-0 senior, starts at the other wing. At Cascade Christian, coach Brian Morse has only one returning starter back - junior point guard Mychal Sha. The second-team all-league pick last year averaged 13.2 points, 5.1 assists and 3.3 steals and is certainly an appealing block on which to build. He's joined by most of last year's junior varsity, which won 22 of 25 games a year ago and was 43-7 the past two seasons. In addition, Sam Kinney is back on the court after spending two years overcoming knee injuries. Though there were questions at the season's start, Cascade Christian went 1-1 in its opening tournament and showed promising signs. Sha, always an adept penetrator, has improved his outside shooting and averaged 18.5 points in the two games. Jon Gettman provides leadership through his play - he's the team's best defender - and Kinney will lend offensive punch. "Those juniors really work well together," says Morse. "I think they're going to be real tough to beat later in the season." His team is one that will try to press and run its opposition into submission and should be fun to watch. "I haven't been able to do that in years," he says of the frenetic style. "We're very athletic, very quick and just very tenacious on defense, which gets the fastbreak going and all that stuff." Apart from experience, the Challengers are vertically challenged - only two players are taller than 6-1. Still, they've made the playoffs for 12 straight years, and a 13th appears probable. Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.