Canada West League Play Looms

Canada West Teams Wrap-up Pre-Season

Canada West League play looms this week, as 8 series are scheduled with Mount Royal on a bye.  We are now past the “We’re looking at different combinations … it’s early … we are just trying to give everyone a chance to show us what they can do under game conditions.”  (Or words to that effect).  No. No … ‘It’s GO TIME !’

What have we seen in the past weeks of pre-season play ?    Well … this …

UBC    6-0 …   Beat   Western O,   Lethbridge – 2,  Nipissing,  Laurier,  Lakehead 

Calgary 5-0 … Beat MRU, Windsor, Regina, Algoma, Saskatchewan

Winnipeg- 5-0 …  Beat Lakehead -3,  Laurier,  Brandon

Saskatchewan 4-1 … Beat TRU, UBC- Okan, MacEwan, Algoma … Loss Calgary

Alberta 5-2 …  Beat UNBC, Queens, Memorial, Nipissing, Western O … Lost to  Ottawa, Regina 

Victoria  5-3  … Beat  Regina, Western O, Laval … Loss  Carleton, McMaster, McGill

Lethbridge 4-2  .. Beat UFV, Bishops -2 , Regina … loss 2 to UBC  

MacEwan 4-2 … Beat TRU, UNBC,  UBC-O, Western O … loss to Sask, Nipissing

Thompson R.  2-2 … Beat TWU,  Lakehead  … Loss  MacEwan, Saskatchewan

Manitoba  2-3 … Beat UQAM, Laurier … Loss  Lakehead, Waterloo, Brandon

Regina  4-8 … Beat  Brandon, Guelph, UQAM, Alberta … Loss  Ryerson, Windsor, Calgary, Mt. Royal, McGill, McMaster, Victoria , Lethbridge  

Fraser Valley  1-1  …  Beat Laurier …  Lose Lethbridge

UNBC   1-3 …    Beat Lakehead … Loss   MacEwan,  Alberta, Laurier    

Brandon 1-4 … Beat Manitoba … loss Wpg, Regina, Laurier, Lakehead

Mt. Royal 1-5 … Beat Regina … Loss  Windsor, Calgary, Bishops, Victoria-2

UBC-Okanagan  0-5 … Loss   Sask, MacEwan, McGill, McMaster, Laurentian

Trinity Western  0-1 …   Loss  Thompson Rivers     

(Trinity and quite a few other CW schools played Canadian College teams and some U.S. schools, from NCAA (various Divisions), NAIA,  and National Junior College.  We did not include these games in the record)

The Dinos and UBC are the ‘teams to beat’ in Canada West, as we anticipate the start of League play.

Based on these results, UBC and Calgary are our two favourites in early November.  They are deep, have great experience, and have added some significant talent.  Winnipeg, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Victoria, Lethbridge all look capable of chasing the top 2, and of securing a post-season berth.

MacEwan appears to be a veteran team with a great chance to surprise, and Regina has a couple of very good wins in a ‘chock-full’ October schedule, with enough quality returnees to make it interesting.

Manitoba, who had some injury troubles, still were surprisingly ineffective in October.  They have the horses, now, can they answer the bell for the start of the regular season?  Mt. Royal, Thompson Rivers, and Fraser Valley may be competitive again, but it’s hard to assess right now.  Fighting to keep the pace are UNBC, UBC-O, Brandon, and Trinity Western.

Sunday’s final Pre-season games – 

•   Fraser Valley  74  W. Laurier 71 –  The mask he was wearing to protect a broken nose didn’t seem to bother Vijay Dhillon, as he scored 21 points to lead the Cascades to a close win over the traveling Laurier Hawks. Manny Dulay had 17 points for UFV, and Laurier’s high scorer was Tevoun Koko with 19 points.
• in Ottawa –   Bishops 78 Toronto 76 , Ottawa 73  McGill  43 ,  Concordia  75 Waterloo  66        

Canada West Newcomers expected to make an immediate impact –

Elliott Sentance comes to Lethbridge with a wealth of experience and a sweet shooting stroke !

• Elliott Sentance – Lethbridge – scoring in large bunches.  Sentance, a veteran of high level club ‘ball in Britain, and in the JC League in the U.S. , should be among the top scorers in CW all season.
• Austin Waddoups – Alberta –  A poised, skilled, and mature player.  Waddoups, a 6-2 guard, played at S. Utah Univ, and Salt Lake City C.C. after a 2 year Mormon mission following high school.
• Tyvon Cooper, Brandon – the 6-0 guard was the 4th highest scorer in the National Jr. College ranks in the U.S. at Orange County College , NY.
• Mambi Diawara, Calgary – The 6-5 Montreal product played 2 years at Lamar State – Port Arthur, TX  Jr. Coll.  A smart, long defender, he averaged close to 20 ppg last season.

  UFV’s Andrew Morris is a key addition for the Cascades this Fall.

• Andrew Morris, Fraser Valley  – The 6-5 Morris has a smooth shot, and uses his size effectively as a defender and rebounder.
• Josh Ross, Mt. Royal – The 6-4 Ross was the 2016 Player of the Year in the Canadian Colleges, as he led the Vancouver Island Mariners to the CCAA title.
• Johneil Johnson, Regina –  the 6-0 point man was the top player in Nova Scotia high schools.  ‘Tremendous athlete, and a quick defender.’
• Jaylan Morgan, Saskatchewan – a strong 6-5 wing man, he averaged 15 ppg / 56% from the floor at Williston State JC, ND after a brilliant high school career in Brampton, ON.
• Pogos Trunyan, Trinity W … The 6-2 shooting guard from Sacramento, CA played 2 seasons at Sierra College, Lake Tahoe, CA, and last season with the Bellevue (WA) Bears.  He is a confident 3 point shooter.
• Isaiah Familia, UBC – This multi-skilled 6-2 guard will be on our ‘all-rookie’ watch list.  He was a 2-time ‘Mr. Basketball’ in Windsor -area high schools.
• James Wagner , Manitoba –  The 6-7 Wagner was a coveted recruit across the CIS.  He played for Canada’s U17 team this past summer, and is a strong rebounder.
• Scott Kellum, Victoria –  The Vikes have the Issaquah, WA  rookie coming off the bench at the point, but he has the composure and skills of a veteran at both ends of the floor.
• Sean Tarver, Winnipeg … The Baltimore, MD high school star, played  two years with the Community College of Baltimore County Dundalk Lions.  He is a scorer and a creator on offense, and an aggressive defender.

Can we have ‘pivotal series’ in the opening week ?

 Week 1 Schedule –  November 4/5

at Calgary   Manitoba

at Thompson Rivers   UBC

at Regina   Victoria

at Alberta   Brandon

at Fraser Valley  Saskatchewan

at Winnipeg    UNBC

at Lethbridge    MacEwan

Overtime –

• TRU Head Coach Scott Clark, on a couple of his favourite games ,  “If this were golf and you shoot 100. You go out the next few times to whittle it down to 90. You have to work on the little things to be a good golfer. That is kind of like what it is for us right now. We are trying to perfect a bunch of little things to be a good basketball team.”  (Chipping, putting  … foul-shooting, rebounding ….)  Nice !

• UFV Cascades head coach Adam Friesen, after their  win over Laurier on Sunday,  “It was nice to see Vijay (Dhillon) get into a rhythm,” said. “He’s been battling injuries for a while now, so he hasn’t seen much court time. But to see him get into some game rhythm at the end of this one bodes well going into league play.”   

• The Ottawa pasting (73-43) of the Q’s top -rated squad, McGill, yesterday is the ultimate ‘statement game’ by someone other than Carleton.  The ‘Ponies’ shut down the Redmen and they scored inside on the usually stingy McGill defenders.  This follows a ‘mixed October’ for Ottawa, who lost to UQAM early on, and were not ‘flying’ in a couple of other fairly close wins.

• As a skilled rookie, you may come into a program where you will play 15-20 minutes plus, or you may see yourself lower on the depth chart on a deeper squad.  Here are some 1st year guys who are strong players, but may have to wait their turn, or ‘get more experience’ at this higher level.  Jeff Rodehutskors, Calgary, Riley Braich, UFV, Dharmjit Dhillon, Manitoba, Tristan Matthews, UBC-O, Noah Kaefer, TRU, Josiah Meppelink, TWU, Justin McChesney, UBC, Narcisse Ambanza, Winnipeg

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