| The Thomas Report - OUA West Review |
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Written by Jim Thomas on Saturday, 20 December 2008 The OUA West race at the semester break is as closely bunched as you can get... The OUA West race at the semester break is as closely bunched as you can get. The scramble for the playoffs in January and February will be a mad rush to the finish line. Winning the road games will be very important. The balance in the OUA West is the best in the country and whoever qualifies should go deep into the final eight come March in Ottawa. Buckle your seat belts basketball fans, the ride should be wild. The Waterloo Warriors have had an excellent run this year under coach Tom Kieswetter and are poised to finish in the upper echelon of the OUA West. Led by dynamic scorer Cam MacIntyre and senior forwards Matt Hayes and Dan White, the Warriors will be extremely tough at home and could ruin the coronation everyone expects from either Western or Windsor. The Brock Badgers have surprised a lot of OUA basketball fans with their fine play this season. They were in the CIS Top Ten until mid-November when a series of tough road games against the upper half of the OUA East brought them back to earth. The Badgers have two of the best freshmen in the CIS in Joel Whitty and Didi Mukendi and will be in the thick of the OUA West race come January. The rebuilding process at Brock is well under way. The McMaster Marauders defense has improved dramatically this year. They are currently ranked third in steals and points allowed in the CIS and eighth in field goal percentage allowed. This has them in the thick of the OUA West race and a chance to finish in the top four. They still need to cut down on turnovers and find consistent scoring from their starting five. The Niagara College team is currently atop the OCAA West Division. The Knights have a heavy Hamilton area flavour with Jeremy Settimi, Nick Fadayel, Arny N'kindu, Vaughn Williams and Ekow Flynn. Coach Mike Beccaria loves the toughness Hamilton kids bring to the court and has built his team around grads from the ultra-competitive Catholic league. Niagara's competition this season will come from Humber, Fanshawe and the always tough Sheridan Bruins. Look for Centennial Colts coach Ro Russell to bring in several players to bolster the Colts roster in January. Russell has been beating the bushes in the GTA to bring more talent to a thin roster which currently stands 8th in the OCAA East Division. Most coaches at the high school level I've talked to this year point out that the competition across the province is down this year. The overall balance is better with any of seven or eight teams potentially winning the Quad A gold come March. With so many high school players playing in the United States, the quality of play in down and even the best teams in the GTA have suffered loses. Eastern Commerce HS and Mother Teresa are very good. Other teams that should challenge are Father Henry Carr, West Hill, Oakwood and outside Toronto d'Youville from Brampton, Pickering from Durham, Assumption from Burlington, St. Thomas More and Cathedral from Hamilton and St. Matthew's from Ottawa. D'Youville from Brampton proved at the SOSI tournament that they belong with the best in the province with wins over London Beal H. S. and last year's OFSAA gold medal team the Pickering Trojans. Led by veteran point guard Kamran Alvi and big forwards Kamiesh Edwards, Akeem Gardner and Manny Sahota, this team is very experienced and have a chance at an OFSAA medal in March if they can get out of the always tough Peel Region league. Can anyone in the province stop Hamilton ACMT from winning a third gold medal this year at Single "A" OFSAA? They don't have a lot of star power on the team this year but they are superbly coached by Martin Vaillancourt, they are big, athletic and deep for a single "A" team. We may have a dynasty in the making here. I think Ryan Christie has tremendous upside as a university athlete in basketball and football. There are few athletes in Canada with his athletic ability skills and intensity. His immaturity and inability to control his emotions negate any contribution he makes on the court. If he ever puts it all together, he could be something special. It will be interesting to see what schools will take a chance on him when he is finished high school. He is the classic high risk/high reward athlete that could either be a future All-Canadian or a cancer. My hope is he matures and fulfills his considerable potential. THE RECRUITING TRAIL There have been five Division I signings in November out of Ontario. Manny Arop from NEDA is going to attend Gonzaga, Taylor Johnson from Toronto West Hill to Binghampton, Enrico DiLoreto from London Beal to Central Connecticut State, Bryson Johnson from Waterloo St. David's to Bucknell and Rob Gagliardi from Pickering to Canisius College in Buffalo, N. Y. NEDA forwards Mike Allison and Murphy Burnatowski recently visited the University of Maine early in December. Kelly Olynyk from NEDA has a scheduled visit to Gonzaga this month. The Carleton Ravens are very interested in Greg Falkner, a 6'5" swing man from Kingston Holy Cross and Tyson Hinz, a 6'6" forward from Ottawa St. Matthew's H. S. Kingston Bayridge H.S. forward Owen Klassen 6'8" is drawing heavy interest from Western, Queen's and McGill. London Regina Mundi swing manClinton Springer Williams 6'4" has heavy interest from Windsor, Western, McMaster and Ottawa. Hamilton St. Mary's point guard Zach Angus has Toronto, Laurier, Western and Guelph tracking his every move. London Westminster forward Dejan Kravic 6'9" has Western, McMaster, York, Windsor heavily involved. Burlington Assumption forward Matt Howlett has Windsor, Western, Guelph, Laurier, Toronto, McMaster and York chasing him from tournament to tournament. Acadia, York and Ottawa are all very active with NEDA forwards Rob Dewar 6'10" and Murphy Burnatowski 6'6". Burlington Nelson guard Brady Heslop 6'1", a superb long range shooter is being heavily recruited by his father Tom Heslop's alma mater, the Guelph Gryphons. He also has interest from McMaster and Toronto. Seasons greeting to all of our loyal readers. See you all in January at the Silver Fox tournament or at an OUA West game. Yours in basketball, Jim Thomas
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