Gleneagle Talons vs Mt Baker Wild
Gleneagle Talons Preview
Nobody knew about the Talons going into the season. For the Fraser Valley North, it was all about hyped teams like Centennial, Terry Fox, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, even Port Moody. But after their near upset vs Handsworth at the HSBC Classic, people started to take notice. The Talons played well throughout the rest of the season, especially in that tough North division. They even got a feature in the Province after their near upset of Handsworth. The Talons beat some good teams to get into the Provincial Tournament (their first ever), including MEI and Centennial. The Talons strength is their pure speed. Starting PG, Daniel Damien is like a one-man fast break. He reminds me of Dee Brown at Illinois, just amazing break-neck speed. There was a Gr. 9 player last time I saw the Talons play that I thought was one to watch out for. The rest of the team, although not as fast as Damien utilizes the same philosophy of run-run-run. Lacking in height, obviously rebounding and post defence are issues. The key for the Talons will be to push the tempo, make other teams play up and down. Their weakness is their lack of patience in the halfcourt game, forcing bad shots and turnovers.
Players to Watch for: Daniel Damien, Drew Slaght, Brandon Dunn
Outlook: Mt Baker won't know what hit them as the Talons will run circles around them. St. George's will be a whole different story. They have absolutely no answer for Bol Kong, none. Consolation will be extremely tough as well.
Mt Baker Wild Preview
OK, I have to bring this up because if I don't, no one else will. The Wild are so far from competitive, that you'd have a better chance of winning the lottery than picking the Wild to win here. I know that this is a Provincial Tournament, and it wouldn't be "Provincial" if we didn't have representation from the whole Province, but when a team like Claremont or Dover Bay can't get in and a 1 in a million team like the Wild do, you have to wonder if there is a better way. Anyways, done with my rant. Post if you know anything about the Wild and who they have.
Players to Watch for: Unknown, please post if you know.
Outlook: Couldn't have picked a tougher first round draw. Don't think they'll fair much better vs Caledonia in the consolation.
posted by BCSportsFanatic @ 8:07 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I agree with your rant at the end there... take the provincials from a couple of years ago. Handsworth beat Argyle in the play-offs and took them to overtime in the Howe Sound finals, and then, thanks to this no-wildcard proportional-representation nonsense, were forced to watch Argyle steamroll their way to a provincial championship.
Now that isn't to say the Wild haven't EVER been competitive. Every so often an L.V. Rogers (with Sean Denison) or Kelowna (last year's Jr. boys beat Kitsilano and defending champ Tamanawis to reach the final) comes out from the outskirts, but the majority of the time there really is a need for a best-of-the-best-type format.
PLAYERS TO WATCH FOR: Cameron..don't know last name...and ummm ya Ryan Porter went there, he played at UCC got all-canadian in the CCAA....sooo watch out for him.
"They have absolutely no answer for Bol Kong, none."
well who in the province really does?
and i agree with your rant, there are a number of deserving teams out there who won't get a shot this year
Glen Eagle is NOT a weak rebounding team. They all crash the boards and are very agressive.
Very true, the province needs a better system. I personally think we should adopt an NCAA type format. Not necessarily the 64 teams, but something like keep the allocated berths for each region (thus keeping it a provincial tournament), but then add a number of other deserving teams, make it like a 32 team tourney. Or if you want, make it 64--really create a march madness type atmosphere.
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