2005 Christmas Review

Update, I've started another blog called "Sports Blitz", mostly random rants about what's making news in Sports...

Well, as you put back that big turkey, we get down and analyse the first month of the season in both AAA and AA in BC High School Basketball. I've also broken down the top players in both AAA and AA.

Here is a week by week rundown of the season so far,

AAA Season Week 3
AA Season Week 3

AAA Season Week 2
AA Season Week 2

AAA Season Week 1
AA Season Week 1

AAA Pre-season Week 1
AA Pre-season Week 1


AAA Contenders

Clearly the top 4 ranked teams are the cream of the crop in the AAA, Centennial Centaurs, St. George's Saints, Handsworth Royals, Kitsilano Blue Demons.

The Centennial Centaurs are the best team in the league so far this season. They have depth and talent at all positions and have proven that they can win the big games. They've won the NSIT and St. George's tournaments and came in 4th at HSBC. They compete in the toughest division in the whole province, the FV North. The Centaurs will be battle-tested come Provincials. The only question mark for the Centuars is that they don't have a game-breaker who can dominate and take over a game, hopefully they won't need one.

The St. George's Saints have limited the number of games they've played early to give star player Bol Kong more time to recover from the stress fracture he suffered this summer. The important thing is that they won the HSBC Classic to kickoff their season and looked good doing it beating Handsworth in the Finals. Starting point guard Alex Murphy is having a banner year and is the key to the success for the Saints. Depth is a question mark for the Saints, in big games, Murphy, Kong and McKay have to carry the team.

The MVP of the season so far is Royals center Rob Sacre. The Royals have been inconsistent in their play so far, capable of beating the top teams (beat Kitsilano in HSBC Classic), but also coming close to being upset big time (6 point win over Gleneagle). The Royals are heavily reliant on Sacre (and who wouldn't), but they need their guards to step up if they plan on winning the big one.

The Kitsilano Blue Demons are hoping to shoot their way all the way to the Provincial title this year. So far both Ty Nurse and Niko Cochrane have been lights out from beyond the arc. It has been truly amazing to watch them light it up from outside. Unfortunately, everyone knows that all shooters have bad days, with the Provincial Tournamet being single elimination, the Blue Demons can ill-afford a bad shooting day by either of their shooting stars.


AAA Suprises

On the Island, Dover Bay is the Island version of the Centennial Centaurs. A great team that has a lot of depth and talent all-around. They took Claremont to 2OT at the Cowichan Tournament. Belmont is another team that has taken many by surprise, they had their coming out party with a good showing at the NSIT.

In the Lower Mainland, Churchill is proving they could be ready to take the next step to a Provincial Tournament berth. They had a good showing making the quarterfinals at the HSBC.

The Fraser Valley North is proving even stronger than many thought. Maple Ridge could be the next best team after Centennial in the whole Fraser Valley. Gleneagle and Pinetree had fantastic games at the HSBC. 1 or both could make the Provincials

Carson Graham got an early Christmas present in the 6'9 forward in Lin Chang who is a foreign exchange student from China. Kelowna is a team that will be at Provincials, they've been pretty consistent in their play so far.


AAA Disappointments

In the Lower Mainland, all Richmond teams are showing their inexperience so far. It will take them a while longer to become more competitive in the Lower Mainland, possibly next season. Killarney has been inconsistent so far, they should make Provincials but nothing is guaranteed anymore.

In the Fraser Valley, Pitt Meadows and Terry Fox have both had disappointing starts to the season. Both are not expected to make Provincials anymore. MEI and North Delta had a lot of hype going into the season but have yet to breakout.


AA Contenders

So far 4 teams have shown they have what it takes to win it all come March, Duchess Park, Ladysmith, St. Thomas More and Fulton.

The Duchess Park Condors have separated themselves from the rest of the pack as the team to beat in 2006. Led by outstanding guard Nathan Yu, the Condors have won every major tournament they've entered and as far as I know are undefeated in the season so far. Barring any significant injuries, the Condors should win the AA Championship in 2006.

The Ladysmith 49ers have hit their stride despite new transfer Spencer Fyfe-Wilson struggling to overcome some nagging injuries and illness. The 49ers have been very competitive beating some AAA teams so far in early season action. We probably won't see any head-to-head matchups vs Duchess or Fulton or Prince Rupert until Provincials.

The St. Thomas More Knights were mostly idle early in the season but hit the scene bigtime in the St. George's tournament a couple of weeks ago. They lost to AAA Centennial by 8 points. They host a big tournament first week in Jan so we'll see just how good they are fairly soon.

The Fulton Maroons are the best team in the Interior although they did lose big to Duchess Park. The Maroons should make semis in the Provincials in March.


AA Suprises

Lambrick wasn't suppose to be this good this year, but younger brother to Charlie Spurr, Cam Spurr has proven the pundits wrong.

Hope has lived up the hype so far and is the best team in the Fraser Valley. Speaking of the Fraser Valley, Coach Gil Cheung has coached his Southridge team to a top 15 ranking. Pacific Academy is proving they will contend come playoff time as well.

Sa-Hali has peaked the interest of many in the interior with a win and close loss to Westsyde, #2 in the Interior will be quite a battle.

Collingwood should win out in the Howe Sound.