By Ed Friedrich

Sun Sports Writer

Olympic League boys basketball is split down the middle by size. The stilts are North Kitsap, Olympic and Port Angeles, the dwarfs Bremerton, Sequim and Central Kitsap.

North, because it mixes height with outstanding shooting is logically the top title contender and Olympic, benefitting from four returning starters, is the best bet to claim the triple-A playoff berth. Sequim, however, defies logic.

The Wolves, who advanced all the way to the state AA championship game before being beaten by Rainier Beach have won two straight league titles and three of the last four. But with just two players back and no starters taller than 6-foot-1, how can they expect to repeat?

Logically, they can’t, but that didn’t stop the Wolves from dominating the summer league.

“Off of summer play, Sequim would have to be the decided favorite,” said North Kitsap coach Jim Harney. “They beat us three times by over 20 points.”

How’d they do it, Jim?

“Ryan Kaps, primarily, and also the Sequim Little League program I believe pays big dividends. They have a tremendous Little League program and a tremendous weight training program and an outstanding coach in Rick Kaps and one of the all-time best ballplayers from our area in Ryan Kaps. They may be small, but they know how to play.”

North and Sequim teamed for some great bashes last season, all three won by the Wolves. Sequim graduate for of its top six players from that squad. North returns five of its top seven.

“When you think about it, in tow out of our three games we were right there with Sequim, and they were an undefeated team,” Harney recalled of the sharpshooting Wolf five who appeared to think and move as one. “The thing that was so shocking was how they could control us during the summer. I though we played hard, but Ryan Kaps is almost impossible to contain with one man and (if you double-team), their other little shooters are still plugging away.

“It’s difficult for (Coach Kaps) to annihilate the league in summer basketball and come out and moan. He’s a great card player.”

Harney, as Kaps’ assessment of his team will attest, knows his counterpart well.

“I’d feel real good if we could sneak into district somehow,” said Kaps. “There’s some real big, talented teams. I’m kind of worried that we can’t even compete with them.”

As long as his son and OL second-teamer Derrin Doty remain healthy, Kaps’ Wolves will compete.

Finally a senior, Ryan already has announced he’ll play next year at the University of Washington. Outside of Olympic’s Chris Welp, who wasn’t homegrown, there hasn’t been a modern-day Pac-10 player out of the West Sound area, and few, such as Port Angeles’ Bernie Fryer and East Bremerton’s Rick Walker, who could compete at that level.

Kaps, a 6-1 guard, who was the league MVP as a freshman and again last year, has already scored 1,336 points during his career. He was co-MVP of the state AA tournament last year and an all-state selection. Doty, a second-team OL star last year, is a big man despite his 6-1 stature.

North counters with Jerry Hogan, a junior who stands four inches taller than Kaps, is a better outside shooter and still has two years to polish his game. He was named to the all-state second team after scoring nearly 21 points a game. And he’s part of the Viking lineup that measures 6-0, 6-2, 6-5, 6-5½, 6-9½.

A rung down the talent ladder are Central Kitsap’s Pete Rasmussen, a 6-7 senior, and Bremerton’s Casey Lindberg, a 5-8 guard who averaged 15 point a game. Rasmussen, however, is the only Cougar starter taller than 6-1 and the Knights have what must be one of the shortest varsity lineups of all time at 5-7, 5-9, 5-8, 5-10 and 5-11.

Olympic and Port Angeles don’t have the big names but do have size. The Trojans may wind up starting a lineup of 6-1, 6-3, 6-5, 6-5½ and 6-9 and Port Angeles, although it lacks the experience of Olympic, will got 5-10, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and 6-6.

This year, teams will play a triple round robin league schedule, much to the chagrin of the coaches. There is one triple-A playoff berth available and two double-As. The top double-A team earns a first-round district bye, as will the triple-A team if it is the league champion.

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Senior guard Casey Lindberg (right) leads a Bremerton lineup of sub-six footers who intend to swarm their bigger quarry

BREMERTON KNIGHTS

Head coach – Larry Gallagher (1^st year)

1987-88 record – 3-7 league, 4^th tie; 6-13 overall

Returning lettermen – 5

Centers – Chris Liebmann, 5-11 sr.; David Rudd, 6-1 sr.; Phil Sutton, 6-1 sr.; DeForrest Phelps, 6-3 soph.

Forwards – John Rustvold, 5-10 jr.

Guards – Casey Lindberg, 5-9 sr.; Todd Lewis, 5-7 sr.; Keith Krell, 5-8 sr.; Brian Coombe, 5-10 sr.; John Chapman, 5-8 sr.; Mike Gurske, 5-8 soph.

Outlook – With the expected starting unity consisting of 5-9 Lindberg, 5-7 Lewis 5-11 Liebmann, 5-8 Krell and 5-10 Coombe, the Knight’s weakness is obvious. Most guards in the league are bigger than Liebmann, Bremerton’s center.

The Knights will try to avoid halfcourt games pressuring from end line to end line to prevent teams from advancing upcourt and deriving much of their offense from resultant turnovers. They’ll rely on tremendous quickness and good shooting, particularly from Lindberg, a second-team OL guard and the team’s co-scoring leader at 15.4 ppg, and Lewis, a jet who’s developed his shooting touch since last year, when he was the sixth man. Liebmann (5.4 ppg) started all last year at forward and Krell displayed some scoring ability as a sub.

Bremerton won’t often be favored this year, but its style under first-year coach Gallagher will delight its fans and make its foes feel as if they’ve stepped in a hornet’s nest. Those who don’t rattle should escape, but the Knight figure to sting a few before the season’s out.