A funny thing happened when Dwain Williams left Chaparral during the summer: Nothing.

Local high school basketball coaches continued coaching, players continued playing, and fans continued caring even after Williams --- one of the nation's top underclassmen -- enrolled at The Basketball Academy, an elite sports program in Bradenton, Fla.

And though few area players could touch Williams talent-wise, there are a number of local prospects who are more than prepared to take his mantle as the Valley's best.

"This valley is a good place for basketball," Elsinore coach Pete Rettinger said. "We're very competitive with all sorts of schools from all over."

Rettinger is among a number of local coaches expecting great things as the season begins this week.

Even at Chaparral, the school Williams departed after averaging 26 points per game in his only season with the Pumas, coach Ed Coyle is looking forward to moving ahead.

Coyle said he wasn't surprised when Williams, The Californian's All-Valley Player of the Year last spring, opted to move to Florida and enroll at The Basketball Academy, one of several youth sports academies owned by tennis coaching icon Nick Bollettieri.

The way Coyle sees it, no player can either make or break a team's season.

"We're past it," Coyle said. "Dwain and his family chose to go in a different direction than high school. I think he could have gotten much better here, but it was his choice to leave. That's all."

In Bradenton, Williams will be joining an academy that was home to NBA stars like Vince Carter and Morris Peterson during their formative years, and has served as a pipeline to the NBA lottery in recent years.

While there, he will compete against other all-star teams and academies -- the school has no affiliation with high school athletics -- while trying to cement himself as one of the country's blue-chip recruits.

Already, Williams' move to The Basketball Academy has made him somewhat of an internet celebrity.

TheInsiders.com lists the guard as a favorite of North Carolina -- Williams and his father toured the Chapel Hill, N.C. campus in May -- and is an early favorite to lead the recruiting class of 2005.

All of that concerns Valley coaches, who argue that the exposure of high schoolers through camps, academies and traveling teams is far more harmful than helpful.

"The Williams thing," Murrieta coach Steve Tarabilda said, "is not a story.

"I'm sure that down the road, he and his parents are going to look back and regret it. All it has done is gotten worse because of the publicity that kids are getting because of the internet and the newspaper. It's insane - I don't even bother to look at it anymore."

Added Rettinger: "I feel bad for the community. High school kids should play for their local high schools, regardless of who they are. If not, you become a hired mercenary."

Some argue that the coaches' objections are antiquated given the ultra-competitive world of recruiting, where membership on elite club teams and enrollment at the right prep school can often help land a player better scholarship offers.

For years, club volleyball has showcased many of the Valley's best prep players, and travel baseball has gotten plenty of local players the kind of exposure needed to earn a scholarship.

Still, many coaches believe this year's crop of well-rounded high-schoolers is the best in recent memory.

Murrieta's Dan Fleming signed a letter of intent with UC Riverside earlier this fall, and should be among the region's top players as a senior. Elsinore senior J.J. Saavedra will anchor a veteran team that finished 19-8 last year.

At Temecula, the defending Southwestern League champions return four seniors -- Tyler Combs, David Hodge, Stuart Shepherd and Josh Bomar -- who should be among the Valley's best.

At Chaparral, senior forward Princeton Joshway should emerge from Williams' shadow to become a force by himself.

Even tiny Cal Lutheran seems to have a prospect in newcomer Aaron Munoz, a 6-foot-7 Division I football prospect who will start in the frontcourt for the C-Hawks.

Yes, there's plenty of basketball to be played in the Valley.

"There are Division I prospects out here," Rettinger said. "As things go on, there are going to be more and more of them."

Ryan Finley can be reached at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2630 or rfinley@californian.com.