My nominee for Ontario's high school Coach of the Year award is Mike Dodig of the Humberview Huskies in the sleepy town of Bolton about a twenty minute drive north of Toronto.

Humberview is the best team in the Brampton/Caledon area of Peel Region as I write this and have knocked off Peel Region powers d'Youville and Acension and have a tournament win over York Region power Markham DHS. This team plays the game the right way as they play good defense, share the ball, make the extra pass and play with composure. There isn't a star quality player on the team but the trio of Patrick Dadzic, Ben Dance and Andy Quinones will be solid OCAA/OUA players next year. The Huskies should qualify out of Peel for the "AAA" tournament in March and should have a chance at a medal. Coach Dodig prepares his team like a university team and inspires them with his passion for basketball which is reflected in their play on the floor.

The Windsor Lancers have pulled away from the rest of the OUA West over the past month with a nine-game winning streak which includes some impressive wins against quality opponents on the road. They have done this without star forward Kevin Kloostra who has missed several weeks because of knee and hamstring problems. The Lancers are squarely in the hunt again for a medal in Ottawa at the CIS Nationals and have the talent and experience to do it.

The Ottawa Gee-Gees have significant injury problems in their back court which leaves them vulnerable to losing in the OUA East playoffs. It really opens the door wide to the University of Toronto to become the third entry from Ontario at the Nationals in Ottawa in March. Ottawa has been playing very well all season but Ottawa coach Dave D'aveiro can not seem to get past his old mentor Mike Katz from U of T.

The NEDA development program from Hamilton have been invited to the Albert Schweitzer games in Germany late in March where they will play against most of the top junior club teams in Europe. This will be a great way to end a very successful season for the NEDA boys program which has played about thirty-five games against OCAA, OUA, CGEP and club teams.

The City of Hamilton does not have a former male high school graduate playing on a Division I roster in the United States this year. Next year there are three candidates who may garner scholarships to D1 programs. Those candidates are Tyrone Watson 6'4" from Cathedral, Mike Allison 6'9" from the NEDA program and Chadrack Lufile 6'8" from Burlington Assumption H. S.Mike should qualify easily with his academics while Watson and Lufile are all improving on the academic front this year. Watson and Lufile may unfortunately fall victim to the new NCAA rule that states a student must have the bulk of their school work needs to be done in eight semesters. All three players will be fifth year seniors next year.

My nominee for sleeper of the year in Ontario high school ball is Kenan Etale, the 6'0" off-guard from ACMT H. S. in Hamilton. Kenan can flat out play with the best guards in the province and is an outstanding student as well. CIS schools seem blissfully unaware of this young man who should be a star quality performer at that level. Kenan is currently looking at the hometown McMaster Marauders and a couple of Division II and NAIA schools south of the border.

My sources in the OUA tell me that certain schools in the OUA West want to end the interlock agreement with the OUA East beginning next season. This arrangement has been in effect for about eight seasons now. Apparently the OUA West schools want to play exhibition games in November and play all their league games in January and February. Since every other league in Canada plays games in November what other CIS teams are available for exhibition games against the OUA West teams? Are we going to see a bunch of meaningless games against American teams filling the November time slot? The OUA West is the most compact league geographically in the country. Travel is easy and time away from school is negligible except for the weekend trips to Thunder Bay. As an OUA fan, I see ten to fifteen games a year in both leagues. I personally like the interlock schedule because it gives me a chance to see outstanding OUA East teams like Carleton, Ottawa and Queens which otherwise I wouldn't be able to being that they are all on the other side of the province. Maybe the OUA West A.D.'s should poll the fans for their opinion before making decisions that affect a league that works quite well now. I and many other basketball fans like the schedule the way it is now. Two separate leagues in Ontario with no inter-league play is a bad idea. The basketball fans in Ontario should get involved in the discussion and pressure the league to maintain the status quo. Let's hear from basketball fans across the country on this subject.