Humber College coach Darryl Glenn turned down the Manitoba job in early April for family reasons I believe but is still one of the hottest candidates for a CIS job out there. All three Toronto universities will be looking for new coaches over the next three years and Glenn will be a superb catch for any one of these schools. Darryl is highly respected in the basketball community and with his success at Humber can write his own ticket to a CIS coaching job very soon.

With the migration of coach Ro Russell to the U.S. to run the new North American Academy prep school in Erie, Pennsylvania look for a big drain of GTA high school talent to stock the new school's teams. Russell and his entourage have been taking a lot of Toronto-area ballers and their families on tours of the facility through March and April and will probably have around twenty-five to thirty Ontario kids enrolled there by next September. The big losers here will be GTA high school teams that want to compete for OFSAA titles in Ontario. Even the best GTA high school teams are not immune to losing kids to the prep school phenomenon that has destroyed the high school scene in Ontario the last two years. With most of our best talent playing at prep schools in the U.S., the Ontario high school competition is a pale shadow of what it was even three years ago.

It is no surprise that the NEDA program is shutting down its operation in Hamilton. Rumours have been swirling for several months that Canada Basketball was deep in the red and could only operate last summers programs because MSLE loaned them money. The concept was a sound and artistically it was a resounding success. Both teams had a lot of success internationally and all of the kids that participated in the program got better as did the coaches while the competition was excellent. Unfortunately without good financial and logistic support, a program like this cannot succeed. The cancelling of the NEDA program is a step backwards for basketball in Canada in my opinion.

Congratulations to coach Roy Rana on being named to coach Canada's U16 international team on the world stage this summer. Coach Rana has his work cut out for him to get this team selected and ready by July. There is enough talent in Canada to do well but the team will only be strong if the coaches can persuade enough of the young talent to play for the national team instead of running the AAU circuit this summer.

THE RECRUITING TRAIL

The Sheridan College Bruins have scored big in Peel Region and will have one of the best recruiting classes in the OCAA next year. They have commitments from Brampton Centennial point guard Jamar Smith, Sandelwood forward Alistair Chisholm 6'5" Mississauga Father Goetz guard Allan Anderson, Meadowvale swingman Khalid Abdel Gabar, Cawthra Park forward Travis Sherwood 6'5" and Loyola forward Greg Osawe 6'4". While none of these kids are big names in Ontario high school ranks, they are the creme de la creme of Peel high school ball and all should excell in the OCAA in the near future. Congratulations to coach Jim Flack and Nicky Davis for reeling in a great group of kids.

Alberta colleges have been scouring Ontario high school ranks for talent this year and two of Ontario's better prospects Mississauga Loyola's Tommy Lewis and London Beal swing man Troy Barnes will head to Lakeland College in Lloydminister, Alberta next year.

The two best recruiting classes in the OUA ranks so far belong to Guelph University and of course the Carleton Ravens. No surprise that Carleton has one of the best recruiting classes in the country because coach Dave Smart pulls this off every year. What is surprising is some kids willingness to pay their own way to sit on the Carleton bench for a couple of years before playing time becomes available. I guess in the end, winning national titles almost every year trumps everything else. Coach Chris O'Rourke has been on the recruiting trail hard this year and will have six or seven freshmen who will get plenty of playing time right away. This will be a young but talented team next year and should give the Gryphon faithfull something to cheer about. The Gryphons will be fun to watch but will be rebuilding next year.

The Brock Badgers have commitments from Hamilton forwards Andrew Cicuttini 6'5" and Alex Reis 6'5" who will bring much needed size and scoring to an undersized frontline. The Badgers are heavily involed with Hamilton centre Nikola Manajlovic 6'9", London forwards Brian Nahimana 6'9" and Clinton Springer-Williams 6'4" and Brantford combo guard Nathan Samuels 5'10".

The Laurier Golden Hawks have picked up two excellent scorere in swingman Taylor Allen 6'2" and Max Allin 6'4", both of who will give the Golden Hawks excellent depth at the two/three positions. Look for the Golden Hawks to be very dangerous in the OUA next year and maybe the best team in the conference.

NEDA forward Nick Langley 6'6" from Golden, B.C. made a great choice by going to McGill University next year. Langley is an excellent student and McGill is graduating several forwards.

AUS teams St. Mary's and Dalhousie are hard after Toronto West Hill forward Alex Arthur. Arthur has U.S. options as well but would be a great pickup for either CIS team.

The Lakehead Thunderwolves have signed two of Ontario's better forwards in Oakville's Ryan Thompson 6'6" and Ottawa's Anthony MacIntosh 6'5". Thompson is very skilled and should start right away. MacIntosh is an outstanding athlete but is coming off major knee surgery and may not be game ready unitl next winter.

A big thank you to Brampton Centennial H.S. coaches Louis Pahias and Marlon McCollin for resurrecting the Peel Region All-Star game after a five year absence. The games were played before an enthusiastic audience of about 600 people at Sheridan College. The kids had a great time and all the coaches who participated did a great job picking the teams. The games were held at the Sheridan College Brampton campus.

NOTICE

This will be our last column for the Spring. We will be back in September when the OUA and OCAA teams get ready for the 2009-10 season. Have a great summer everyone!

Yours in basketball,

Jim Thomas