Towering Expectations -- Three Years After They Were The Talk Of The Town In Junior-High Basketball, The Tall Players Who Comprise The North Kitsap Boys Team Have No Title, But They Do Have A Heightened Sense Of Reality.

POULSBO, Kitsap County - Word leaked out three years ago that something special was happening on the Olympic Peninsula.

A boys basketball team was dominating opponents on its way to a perfect season and a league championship. The only thing that stood out more than the team's success was the size of its players - a 7-foot center and two 6-6 forwards.

And then came the kicker: This was a junior-high team.

The media put on a full-court press. Expectations grew as tall as the 14- and 15-year-olds from Poulsbo Junior High. Some townsfolk envisioned a state championship.

Three years later, the most recent basketball trophy in the North Kitsap High School gym lobby is from 1988. The ninth-graders are seniors. This is their last chance to win a championship for the Vikings.

But win or lose, the Kitsap kids now stand out for something besides their height. They have kept their perspective through all the pressure and expectations.

"Nobody got too carried away with it," said Aaron Olson, now a 6-8 forward. "It's not like somebody said, `Oh, we're amazing, we're going to win three state championships.' I think we were pretty realistic about it."

Said center Jay Strid, now 7-2, "I'd like to make it to districts and finally go to state for a North Kitsap team."

But even making the playoffs may be a tall order for the Vikings, the tallest high-school team in the state and one of the tallest in state history.

Strid, the tallest high-school player in the state, wears size 19 shoes and a 40-inch inseam.

Olson and forward Scott Deeds are 6-8. Point guard Nick Gilman, 6-6, grew three inches since last season.

Coach Jim Harney could field a lineup that is 7-2, 6-8, 6-8, 6-6, 6-5.

That averages a touch over 6-8 per player. That's taller than the starting five of the NBA's SuperSonics. With Sam Perkins at center, the Sonics average 6-7 1/2.

"It's the tallest high-school team I can remember," said Harney, in his 23rd season at North Kitsap. "And I've been following basketball since 1957."

Mercer Island's Ed Pepple, in his 35th year as a head coach, agrees. "I think that's the tallest team in state history," he said after his No. 3 Islanders' 68-44 victory last night at North Kitsap.

The top of the entryway between the North Kitsap locker room and the gym is about 6-6. Three of Harney's players have to duck.

"See, two of the guys would come to about here," Harney said of Deeds and Olson, touching a few inches above the clearance.

Harney extends his hand up as far as it will go. "And the other guy comes to about here," he said of Strid.

But in a preseason coaches poll by a local newspaper, the Vikings were down there. As in picked to finish behind Central Kitsap, Port Angeles and Olympic.

"We want to go out and show them they're wrong," Deeds said. "We're all pretty excited about this year."

Excited, yes. Unrealistic, no.

The Vikings have size and talent, but a glaring weakness - handling a full-court press.

Even the slightest defensive pressure can force a turnover. They average 21 turnovers a game.

Gilman, who has shown flashes of brilliance with his dribbling and passing, could develop into a fine college point guard, Harney said. But he faces a tough task of handling the ball against a swarm of smaller, quicker guards.

"It's a speed game," Harney said. "Our guard play will be the key to our success. You have to get it down court and get the ball inside to take advantage of our post players. . . . But I think they have a chance to be a good team."

The Vikings (2-2) won their first two games this season before losing to seventh-ranked Puyallup and Mercer Island.

Off the court, Deeds is the quietest and Olson the most personable. Strid is somewhere in between, and has an easy laugh. The three, all of whom carry 3.2 grade averages or better, became closer friends over the summer while they lifted weights or played ball.

Strid and Olson, who attended the same preschool, have literally grown up together.

"I looked at some old class pictures the other day," Olson said, "and Jay was always at least a head above everyone else. Even me."

The three probably will play sports in college. Olson and Strid can play at the Division II level, Harney said. Deeds, a defensive end, hopes to play college football like his brother Shawn, a quarterback at Washington State.

The Vikings are off to a much better start than last season, when they lost 11 of their first 12 games. A six-game winning streak vaulted North Kitsap into playoff contention before they lost their final game.

As sophomores, they played little as the Vikings lost seven of their last eight games to miss the playoffs.

"Really, I just want to see our team do well because the last two years have been very frustrating," Olson said.

Strid, Olson and Deeds have one vow for their senior season - to give their best effort. If they fall short of the Olympic title this season, Strid said he won't have any regrets.

"Not if I know that I played as hard as I can this year," Strid said. "You can't really regret anything that you tried your hardest at."

Nothing can erase the memory of their joyous ninth-grade season. The players loved the attention - "Hey, we're on TV !" they would tell their friends. They had newspaper clippings in scrapbooks at an age when most kids collect comic books.

But even then they wondered what all the fuss was about.

"We didn't even think we deserved it back then, even though we were beating teams by 30 points a game," Olson said. "We said, `It's just junior high; it's not like we're about to win a national championship.' "

They might not win another championship together. But they have grown - in height, on the court, away from basketball.

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Growing boom around Sound.

The number of big men in Puget Sound-area high schools keeps growing. Here are some of the players who stand 6 feet 10 or taller from area high schools: . Name School Height Class College. . Luke Arthur Central Kitsap 6-10 sophomore N/A. . Steve Coram Woodinville 7-0 junior N/A. . Jeff Knoll Mercer Island 6-11 senior Undecided. . Brad Millard Blanchet 7-1 senior St. Mary's.

(Calif.). . Jay Strid North Kitsap 7-2 senior Undecided. . David Sturing Lake Washington 7-0 senior Idaho.