Gulf is the team to beat

By JOEY KNIGHT

NEW PORT RICHEY -- His roster features six seniors, five of whom will start. A 6-foot-8 transfer fell into his lap earlier this year.

Never before has he been endowed with so much height on one team. During the summer, that fusion of size and experience produced 35 wins in 45 games.

Gulf coach Steve Feldman won't offer a rebuttal to those who insist his team is loaded.

But he will offer a disclaimer: If the Bucs aren't careful, all that potential will decompose into pyrite.

"Since we have our entire roster back, people like to think, 'Well, you have your entire roster back, Coach, you had a real good summer.' But all that to me, honestly, is fool's gold," said Feldman, who returns everyone from a 12-14 club.

"Everybody's got potential written on their forehead from the day they're born. From that point on, it's all about what you realize versus what's out there.

"We'll do our best as coaches to make them understand what the difference is, and it will be a coaching failure if I can't get their mind-set right."

If Feldman succeeds in keeping his team's collective ego in check, the Bucs could make the rest of the county feel pretty humble as well.

Most agree they're the clear favorite to win the Sunshine Athletic Conference.

"Definitely Gulf," Ridgewood coach Gary Anders said when asked whom the county's best team is. "They've got everybody back -- with transfers."

Indeed, Feldman's wealth of talent only got wealthier in the offseason.

Compare it to Bill Gates winning the Fantasy 5.

Rangy transfer Travis Thomas, who played two years at Hudson before moving to Ohio, joins a towering frontcourt featuring 6-7 sophomore David Frazier, 6-5 senior Corey Crossway and 6-4 senior small forward Austin Gibson.

On the perimeter, Feldman returns first-team all-conference shooting guard Justin Sconiers and point man Andrew Ross, among others.

"He's long, he's lean, he's a shot blocker, but he's a rebounder," Feldman said of Thomas.

"He's not Mr. Offensive Skill Package, but boy I tell you what, if you clog him around the middle there, he's going to make guys change a lot of things. He's not going to give up a lot of offensive boards, I'll tell you that. He's got a lot of upside."

The blend of low-post size and perimeter skill gives Feldman a smorgasbord of offensive options, all of which he hopes to employ at one point or another. If there's a glaring concern, other than team mind-set, it's Sconiers' knee.

The lone holdover from Feldman's 2002 district title squad, Sconiers (14 ppg as a junior) underwent minor knee surgery in the offseason, but has returned to action despite occasionally struggling with his rehab.

"I don't think he's understood what knee surgery is like in the afterlife, and that is, understanding how to manage his injury afterwards," Feldman said.

Knees, of course, can be delicate things.

So can egos. Feldman will monitor both in hopes that neither swells.

The proverbial landscape "is littered with teams that are just a little too cocksure of themselves," Feldman said, "and teams that are too full of steam about what they think they can be."