| The Thomas Report - 01/19/09 |
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Written by Jim Thomas on Monday, 19 January 2009 Congratulations to the St. Matthew's Tigers for their gold medal win at the Silver Fox Tournament. They play excellent defense, move the ball very well on offense and shoot the ball very well. They are the best team outside the GTA and should win Triple A OFSAA which is coincidently being held in Ottawa in March. This team is very skilled but don't have the depth or size to compete with the elite Toronto teams on a consistent basis. They were a pleasure to watch and we wish them continued success. The St. George College team from BC was a bit of a disappointment for me. They were competitive at the Silver Fox but not as good as I had been led to believe. Despite having two of the best players in BC in Luke Braud - a 6'6" forward and Emerson Murray - a 6'2" guard, they struggled to compete with the better Ontario teams. My view is that the best teams in BC are probably 15-20 points behind the best we have in Ontario. The best Ontario teams are deeper, more athletic and just as well coached giving them a big advantage over teams from the rest of the country. The Orchard Park Patriots are a big talented team with potential to medal at Triple A OFSAA come March. However, will their less than impressive tournament schedule have them ready to compete at a high level in March? Coach Jim MacDonald needs to beef up their tournament schedule next year since most of his players are back and will take a serious run at the Triple A crown in 2010. They need to be in the Silver Fox, The Court Heinbuch, The Nike Holiday Classic and the SOSI tournament as well. Local GHAC teams Parkside and Oakville St. Thomas Aquinas will be major contenders for medals at Double A OFSAA in Timmons in March. Both teams had excellent runs at the Silver Fox tournament and should be top seeds if they qualify. Mark Maga does a great job with Aquinas. His team has excellent size and play very well together. Parkside has great interior scoring with 6'5" Andrew Cicuttini and impressive grade eleven guards Quinn Henderson 6'3" and Kevin Gedrietis 6'0" who are a great back court combo. THE OUA The addition of former Syracuse Orangemen Josh Wright, a 6'2" guard to the Ottawa Gee-Gee lineup should add some spice to the always heated rivalry between Carleton and Ottawa in the nation's capital. This is the best university rivalry in CIS sports. Both teams are in the top five and the race for supremacy in the OUA East just got better. Ottawa basketball fans are in for a great winter of competition. The Western Mustangs have looked very impressive in the opening week of the OUA West January schedule. This is veteran team with great size, depth and skill and should win a very tough OUA West league. This is a last hurrah for many of the 'Stangs best players who loose five starters to graduation next spring. This will be their only opportunity to get it done for the next while. Rebuilding this team is on the horizon. The Guelph Gryphons have been a disappointment this year floundering near the bottom of the OUA West Division in January. They should make the playoffs and always play great defense but a lack of overall size quality, depth and athletic ability may doom them to the second division this year. They loose many of their best players in the spring as well and maybe in for a couple of years of rebuilding the program. THE RECRUITING TRAIL NEDA forwards Murphy Burnatowski 6'6" and Mike Allison 6'9" have both committed to the University of Maine in snowy cold Orono, Maine. They will sign their letters of intent in the spring. Brock University point man Brad Rootes is actively recruiting players from all over Ontario. The energetic Rootes has really broadened Brock's recruiting horizons this year. High school talent in the Niagara Region is down this year so Brock has to expand their recruiting base and be more aggressive with their recruiting than in the past. The lack of big men available in the GTA has forced Toronto schools York, Ryerson and Toronto to look for talent in areas outside their traditional catchments areas of Toronto, York, Durham and Peel Regions. All three schools are aggressively recruiting Western Ontario and are on a collision course with the OUA West which usually dominate their own backyard. There are plenty of big men with size and marks from Oakville to Windsor and lots of schools looking for size in both Ontario conferences. Guelph coach Chris O'Roake has been out at a lot of tournaments this year and are heavily recruiting Hamilton area athletes Zach Angus, Matt Howlett, Andrew Cicuttini, London big man John Brutto and Leamington 6'10" big man Blake Pauls. Windsor Forester H. S. centre Ali Haider has committed to Division II school Michigan Tech. Haider is an excellent student who wants to major in engineering. Michigan Tech is a perfect fit. Chatham Ursaline HS combo guard Max Allin 6'4" will not follow his four older brothers to the University of Windsor. Allin was impressive at the Silver Fox recently. He wants to forge his own path and it looks like Laurier University may be the favourite for his services next year. University of Ottawa coach Dave D'Aviero is heavily involved with London Regina Mundi forward Clinton Springer Williams and Brampton d'Youville HS forwards Kamiesh Edwards 6'4", Akeem Gardner 6'5" and Manny Sahota 6'6". Ottawa coaches have made several trips to GTA tournaments to see all four play. Carleton University are heavily involved with Kingston area forwards Owen Klassen 6'8", Greg Faulkner 6'5", Ottawa forwards Anthony MacIntosh 6'5" and Tyson Hinz 6'6". Lakehead University has shown a lot of interest in Oakville St. Thomas Aquinas forward Ryan Thompson 6'5 who was a first team All Star at the Silver Fox tournament in Hamilton. Thompson has the most luxuriant beard I've ever seen on a teenage basketball player. For those of us of a certain age, he could double as one of the Smith brothers who sold cough drops at every corner drug store years ago. Andrew Cicuttini Dundas Parkside H. S. 6'5" power forward is being recruited by Brock, Western and Guelph. He has improved his academics from college to university level. DISCLAIMER The rankings on The Hoop-la web site are the sole responsibility of Kirk Alfaro. We have no input into the rankings on the web site and haven't for many years. Yours in basketball, Jim Thomas
Let's keep the comments clean and on point. Agree or disagree and make corrections on any errors if you know of any, but ease up on the trash talk. Hope these offensive posts get deleted.
garbage website kirk you and jim can eat sh1t and die,i have no respect for both you guys.kirk being from hamilton you let us down
Timing As well there is a recession going on. These guys should've waited till at least the summer. I find it hard to beleive kids are going to spend/subscribe on a magazine during these times. Kudos for attempting but man...timing in this case could be everything. With all due respect to Crown mag but BB magazine came out 3 years ago amid dwindling magazine ad rev and couldn't hack it ... 3 years later the same magazine comes out, with the magazine industy in MORE disarray than 3 years ago and these enthusiats think it's going to go?!? Either these guys are really dumb or they got a lot of balls. When TIME, VOGUE and all the big names are cutting jobs, laying off because of smaller ad rev...i find it really hard to think that companies are going to help finance a canadian basketball magazine.
WOW YOU F**KING BLOW C**K THIS IS THE WORST SHOWING EVER. YOU NEED TO KNOW THE REAL FACTS. *!?@ *!?@ *!?@ *!?@ B===D You didnt even get the crown magazine website right. Get your facts straight. Jim Thomas go kill urself wat do u do with ur life What does thick facial hair have to do with how strong a player's basketball abilities are? And do you not realize that most people don't have a clue who the Smith brothers are and don't give a "beep" who they are. Write something worthy of writing next time. What rankings does the disclaimer cover? It's not very clear. I'm assuming it must be the best 10 teams rankings of Hamilton/Toronto/Halton/Province etc. as the best player rankings (top 60) are clearly credited as being Jim Thomas' picks. hahahaha Ryan Thomson's luxuriant beard????? Well...at least he got his name right this time. Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.23
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