Pine View coach John Wardenburg was away from the high school game for six years before taking over for Lynn Christensen at Pine View High last season.
He spent two full years as the Dixie College athletic director and four years as an assistant basketball coach under Dave Rose at Dixie College.
To say the high school game passed him completely by may be somewhat of a stretch, but it did change from what he remembered from his five seasons as head coach at Payson.
"The game has changed a bit," Wardenburg said. "The kids are different. I'm happy to be back in it. And it helps, too, when you're winning."
Despite a 11-13 record in his first year back, the Panthers were Region 9 co-champions and finished fifth in state in 1999.
This year the Panthers return four quality players and were ranked by the 3A coaches as the No. 1 team in their classification.
So far the Panthers have lived up to their billing with a perfect 3-0 record with wins over two Las Vegas schools and Orem.
Now, they have the bull's-eye on their jerseys.
"I really like the chemistry of our team," he said. "The thing I like more than anything is how hard they play. I saw it coming this spring and summer. The kids really played hard and play together and enjoy playing together."
The Panthers, the unanimous choice to win Region 9, return 6-foot-1 guard Jeff Madsen, who averaged 12 points last year; Chris Clayton (6-7, 5 ppg); Adam Legg (5-10, 6 ppg, 5 assists per game); and Josh Woodbury (6-1, 5 ppg).
"Legg is as fine of a point guard as there is in the state," Wardenburg said. "He will make us go."
Uintah, Morgan, Bear River and Emery round out the remainder of the Top 5.
Uintah started the year 2-0 but fell in a long road trip to southern Utah to Dixie and Hurricane, a 1999 finalist who is 3-0 and picked to finish 5th in Region 9, on back-to-back nights. But Derek Sutton and Allan Belcher are solid for the Utes. They will bounce back.
Morgan was nearly the unanimous choice to win Region 7, while state champion Bear River was chosen to finish third behind Tooele.
"We return a talented group of players that all have quality varsity experience," Morgan coach Jason Young said. "We should be more athletic that we have been."
Guard Aaron Ewing led the Trojans in 1999 with 11 points, while Skyler Benson averaged 10 points and four boards per game. Troy Kolan, Waylon Bond and Justin Weeks are expected to contribute.
The Bears are extremely inexperienced but have four guys led by Jeff Palmers (12 points, seven rebounds in junior varsity) that had good years at the J.V. level.
Emery (24-1, 3rd in the state) returns Klint Anderson and Steven Ewell from its 1999 squad, and the Spartans are picked to win Region 8, while Mike DeMille and Richfield were tabbed No. 2 in that region.
Uintah, despite the somewhat slow start, is picked to win Region 10, but watch out for Division I prospect David Giovacchini and Jake Kolbus from Judge, the 1999 region champ despite losing five of their first seven players from last year.
E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com