Magnetic Attraction : Reseda School Strives to Supplement Enriched Education With 3-A Division Basketball Program

It is a school that has never struck fear into the hearts of Valley high school basketball players. Maybe the name has something to do with it.

The Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies in Reseda.

Known outside athletics for its journalism and debate teams, the school has gained a well-deserved reputation for hitting the books instead of one-handed jumpers. It is the kind of place where students figure out a way to make the school fight song rhyme and cheerleaders major in elocution.

But on the basketball court, the CES Knights could just as well be a summer-league softball team for a Camarillo electronics firm. Until 3 1/2 years ago, the school did not even have a basketball team. And when the Knights began competing at the varsity level, their schedule included teams such as Mid-City Alternative and Downtown Business Magnet. No CES player has ever received a college basketball scholarship.

This season, the school administration decided to upgrade the athletics program. Principal Eli Brent asked the City Section to consider the Knights for 3-A Division status in basketball and tennis. The City agreed to let the school participate on a trial basis this season and also provided money for coaches and buses to games. Next summer, the City will evaluate the school’s performances to see whether the Knights are capable of jumping full time into interscholastic sports.

Based on the basketball team’s record this season, it appears that the Knights have the right stuff to make the move. CES is unbeaten in eight games, giving the Knights 47 victories in their past 48 games. In a November scrimmage, CES played Birmingham, the City 3-A runner-up last season.

“Before the game,” CES Coach Mac Becker said, “our kids were frightened.”

But according to Becker, the Knights scored an eight-point win, which he counts on their record. To Birmingham, however, it was only a scrimmage.

“I played all my kids,” Braves Coach Elliot Turret said, “and if it had been a game, things would have been totally different.”

Does Turret think the Knights can be competitive in the 3-A Division? “They have good size and a couple of talented players,” he said, “but they appear to be inexperienced in basketball fundamentals.”

Becker, of course, will be using the Birmingham scrimmage, as well as victories over Faith Baptist and Highland Hall, as proof that the Knights have arrived. He also will point to the high-powered CES offense, which averages about 90 points behind senior Dannton Jackson and junior Marcus Littlejohn (combined average: 60 points).

The development of the CES basketball program is sudden but not totally unexpected. Talented players always went to the school. They just never stayed. Future college players such as Anthony Cook, now at No. 1-ranked Arizona, attended CES through ninth grade and then transferred to a high school with an established basketball program.

“Good players vegetated here or matriculated on to other schools where they could continue playing,” said Becker, who was an unpaid coach until this season. “The kids who stayed became superior students.”

The pursuit of academic excellence is what brings most students to CES from all over the city. CES is a Magnet school that is part of the L. A. Unified School District’s voluntary integration program. Although it is not geared to genius IQs like some Magnet schools, CES attracts students because of its wide range of elective courses, extensive field trips and college atmosphere. There is intense competition to be one of its 1,500 students in grades four through 12. The decision is made by computer and Becker has to let the chips fall where they may--he has no say in the selection process.

So, even with busing opening up prime basketball territory all over town, Becker cannot recruit. But that doesn’t mean big-time high schools cannot recruit his players. Or try, which “ticks me off,” the normally mild-mannered Becker said.

“I’m always hearing things from players like, ‘This coach said to come down and practice with me.’ Or ‘Come away and be a superstar with us.’ These coaches have so many players to pull from, why do they have to dangle things in front of my kids? I wish they’d quit disturbing their minds.”

The pressure on the Knights’ best players to transfer often comes from within, too. They know their chances of getting a college scholarship would improve if they played for high-profile teams. At CES, they also miss what Becker calls “the glamour and the glory. If we had it here, we wouldn’t lose these kids.”

Jackson, a 6-5 forward, wrestled with the dilemma last year. “But my parents and I decided this was the best place for me,” he said. “The players and students are much closer here than at other schools. Everybody is recognized for what they do in all the programs.”

But what about the lack of exposure? “I do miss it at times,” Jackson said, adding, “but it’s just publicity.’

When a player like Jackson decides to stay, Becker is relieved for reasons beyond basketball. “A student is in a good environment here and stays away from the problems that are on other campuses,” he said.

According to players, CES is a school where faculty and students exist in harmony. “The teachers help you out here,” said Reggie Fox, senior starting guard. Jackson thinks “they work on little things that make us better as a person, help us develop ourselves.”

The nurturing attitude at the school is evidenced by Becker. “I tell the kids, first I’m their friend, then their teacher, then their coach,” he said.

Not only does he invite players to his Newbury Park home for dinner, but he lets them run practice, borrow money from him and make pizzas in the coaching staff’s microwave oven. “We treat the kids as if they’re at college,” said Becker, a 1956 UCLA graduate. “They’re given a lot of responsibility.”

Becker also takes an unusual approach to winning. “There’s no emphasis on it,” he said. “We play for fun, although we tell the kids it’s more fun to win.”

Until this season, even if Becker was able to recruit, it’s doubtful he would have impressed anybody. The gym had not been painted for 30 years. There was no electric scoreboard on the wall nor school emblem on the hardwood floor. The booster club paid for some of the renovations with money raised from a jog-a-thon.

If the Knights are accepted into the 3-A Division, they also will become more like conventional high school basketball players and actually practice after school.

Since varsity basketball began at CES, both Becker and his players have been forced to give up lunch or eat on the run in order to practice every day--the bus home leaves right after school. So when the other kids are eating in the cafeteria, the Knights are dribbling in the gym. They also play a lot of home games at 1 p.m. But if the Knights move up to 3-A, the City will provide after-school bus transportation, enabling them to stay for practice and play games later in the afternoon.

The new emphasis on basketball at CES has given Becker hope that some of his players will get college scholarships. It could happen this season, Becker says, to Jackson and 6-6 senior Jeff Gross, the student body president.

For basketball players, life at CES is no doubt becoming more mainstream. They even took their performance against Birmingham in stride.

“It felt good,” Jackson said, “but after, it was time to get back to business.”