By Don Ketchum

It’s not true that the boys basketball team from Phoenix Westwind Prep is ready to join the NBA. It just seems like it.

The Class 2A school’s fast-paced approach has helped the team average 95 points a game and win its first eight games (through Dec. 8).

Westwind finished as state runner-up last season (to Phoenix Scottsdale Christian), but coach Gary Trousdale (pronounced trues-dale) felt the team’s system needed a bit of an overhaul.

The team had a lot of good athletes, but needed to showcase their talents with a high-energy offense and a pressure defense.

Trousdale said it was the same offense employed by coach Paul Westhead at Loyola-Marymount University. Westhead also coached the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.

The change at Westwind meant being in condition and then some.

The players were put through the paces, and in August, Trousdale just dropped in to see what condition their condition was in.

“We told them up front that this may be the toughest thing they have gone through in their lives, and they realized we weren’t kidding,’’ Trousdale said.

“They started to buy into the system. It starts with the pressure defense, and when we take possession, it’s about sprinting to a spot on the floor, whether you’re going to get the ball or not. We’re primarily using six or seven players to do it. This year, we are clicking with it a lot sooner than I expected.

“There might be teams that can stay with us for maybe a half or so, but if they keep trying to keep up, they will be exhausted.’’

In what Trousdale refers to as “organized chaos,’’ the Warriors scored 100 or more points three times, with two games in the 90s and three in the 80s.

The roster features good size in addition to athleticism. One player is 6-foot-8, three are 6-6, two are 6-4 and three are 6-3.

The team’s top player is guard Demarquise “Q’’ Johnson, a 6-6 junior. Johnson originally is from Michigan, and the team got a boost this season when his childhood friend, 5-10 senior point guard Juwan Moody, moved to Arizona.

Another player to watch is 6-6 senior wing Paris Oliver, a three-year starter.

Trousdale calls Oliver the best high school rebounder he has ever seen. He is quick to the ball and is a big shot-blocker.

Scottsdale Christian figures to make a run at the title again, along with Chandler Valley Christian and Phoenix Northwest Christian.

“But for us to be able to compete, we can’t worry about what they do so much, but focus on what we do best,’’ Trousdale said.

The team will get a better idea of where it stands when it plays many of the Valley’s top big-school programs in the VisitMesa.com Basketball Challenge at Mesa Mountain View High Dec. 27-29.

The field includes Mesa Dobson, Mesa Mountain View, Mesa Red Mountain, Phoenix St. Mary’s, Sierra Vista Buena, Phoenix Horizon, Tucson Amphitheater, Phoenix Mountain Pointe, Scottsdale Chaparral, Phoenix Sunnyslope, Chandler, Moeller (Cincinnati), Lutheran (Orange, Calif.), Brighton (Cottonwood Heights, Utah) and Serra (Gardena, Calif.).