If the McMaster Marauders are going to win the OUA West title this year, they are going to need to accomplish this with defense and rebounding. Their perimeter offense is suspect and this could be the worst foul shooting team in Joe Raso's tenure with the university. Fifth year centre Mouctar Diaby 6'8" will not rejoin the roster until Christmas as he is rehabbing a shoulder injury operated on last spring. The good news is former Mississippi State transfer Terry Licorish 6'9" is taking classes at McMaster and if he passes his courses, he will suit up with the Marauders for league play in January.

The Brock Badgers are very young but will be a very dangerous opponent in the OUA West this season. They start three sophomores and two freshmen. Freshman Clinton Springer-Williams may be the best best freshman in the country and was part of the best recruiting class in the history of Brock basketball. Springer-Williams turned down several Division I scholarships to stay close to his London home. Look for the Badgers to make a big leap in the OUA standings this year.

Laurier Golden Hawk coach Peter Campbell has already lost part of his outstanding recruiting class and not a single minute of basketball has been played. Elite freshmen Taylor Allen 6'3" and Justin Tomas 6'4" will sit out this season for different reasons. Allen will miss the year because of a hip injury suffered during his high school career. Tomas will sit out the year for personnel reasons. Both were amongst the provinces best high school perimeter shooters last year. This leaves the Golden Hawks with less depth and scoring power than they had anticipated during the off-season.

St. Francis Xavier coach Steve Konchalski added a potential game changing big man to his roster in late September. Riiny Ngot, a 7'2" centre from Calgary has transferred in from a junior college in New York State. Ngot is an excellent athlete and an accomplished shot blocker, rebounder who can anchor the X-Men's swarming athletic defensive schemes. Coach Konchalski may have already punched his ticket to the Final Eight in Ottawa in March.

Two former Ontario high school stars Marvell Waithe 6'8" from Toronto and DJ Wright from Sault Ste. Marie are being touted as potential junior college All-Americans this year by a number of basketball magazines. Waithe from Toronto's Laurier H. S. is a sophomore at Tallahassee J. C. in Florida while Wright 6'9" won the MVP of the U.S. junior college Championship tournament last year won by his Salt Lake C. C. Bruins. Wright has since transferred to Mt. San Jacinto C. C. in California. Both players are being heavily recruited by high-major basketball programs and both have the talent to play high level pro ball when they finish their college eligibility.

The best high school player in the City of Hamilton this year may be fifth year senior Jehanns Manigot of the REDA program which practices out of Central Memorial Recreation Centre. Manigot, who is originally from Ottawa, is the last hold over from the now defunct NEDA program. He has interest from a lot of strong CIS programs and has the game to play at a low Division I program south of the border. Manigot is already qualified through the clearing house and can play both guard positions.

Props to Brampton's D'Youville's H. S. forward Manny Sahota for being awarded a scholarship to Ivy League power Cornell this past summer. Manny is an excellent student in the classroom and has worked extremely hard to make himself an excellent basketball player. He has worked countless hours in the gym with his high school coaches. The best part in my estimation has been his decision to stay in Canada for his education and give Ontario basketball fans a chance to see him play as a senior. This is rare considering the exodus of talent from the Peel high school ranks over the past two year's. It proves my point that young players don't have to go the prep school route to access scholarship offers from colleges in the United States.

Will the ACMT Jaguars be the best team in the Hamilton Catholic League this year? Most of the team's in the league have lost heavily to graduation and the league looks down overall in terms of competition. The Jags have a strong nucleus of players back plus some excellent transfers. They will move up from Single "A" to Double "A" competition on the provincial level and there they should still be OFSAA medal contenders.

The three most highly sought after CIS prospects in Hamilton this year will be Orchard Park's Satar Wahidi 6'6" and Taylor Black 6'7" as well as Saltfleet's Brett Sanders 6'5". All are excellent students and are on the radar screens of almost every CIS school.

A big transfer from Toronto Eastern Commerce H. S. will be Kurtis Ethier, a 6'1" point guard who played at Jean Vanier H. S. in Scarborough last year. Ethier is one of the premier PG's in Ontario high school ball this season.

Carleton, Ottawa, Toronto, McMaster and several other schools are monitoring the progress of Mississauga H. S. point guard Jahmal Jones this year. The talented Mr. Jones attended the famous Five Star camp in Pennsylvania this past summer but was hampered by a minor knee injury. Jamal has really pushed his marks up this year and is a top five point guard in Ontario.

Last year's big man crop in Ontario was one of the best in several years. This year there is less ability and depth to chose from. High in demand by CIS schools will be Lucas Nugteren 6'10" and Nick Yantzi from the REDA program in Hamilton. Chris McLaughlin 6'9" from Oakville's Abbey Park H. S., Steven Bukvic 6'10" from St. Joan of Arc and Michael Glasic of Gonzaga H. S. in Mississauga who is 6'9". All of these bigs are excellent students.

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