Former Semiahmoo star Adam Paige has risen above the pack with the Alberta Golden Bears. This summer, the Surrey native will play professionally for the Fraser Valley Bandits. (Photo property University of Alberta athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Adam Paige: He’s Alberta’s rising hoops leader, and now Fraser Valley Bandits pro stint will make ex-Semiahmoo Totems star even better!

In one manner of speaking, you can say that Adam Paige can’t wait to write the next chapter of his basketball story.Yet in another, it’s not a stretch to say that by getting a chance to play professionally in the midst of his university career with the Alberta Golden Bears, that the 6-foot-8 Semiahmoo Totems […]

UBC's Grant Audu was drafted by the CEBL's Fraser Valley Bandits on Wednesday, and will sandwich in a pro season this summer in Abbotsford before returning to War Gym a seasoned vet this fall. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Grant Audu: UBC basketball’s rising leader vows to soak up his pro experience with the Fraser Valley Bandits

VANCOUVER — There is so much that Grant Audu can do on a basketball court, that for his entire university career, he’s been cast in a series of demanding roles.The UBC Thunderbirds’ rising fourth-year forward has not only made each of those his own, in the process of doing so he’s shown himself to be […]

As a sophomore this past season with the WAC's Utah Valley Wolverines, SLSS grad Fardaws Aimaq led NCAA Div. 1 rebounding at 15.0 per game. (Photo by Jay Drowns property of Utah Valley University Marketing 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Fardaws Aimaq to test the waters of the 2021 NBA Draft! For Steveston-London grad and NCAA’s No. 1 rebounder it’s a win-win situation!

RICHMOND — NCAA Div. 1 basketball’s most prodigious single-season rebounder in over 40 years is set to test the waters leading up to the 2021 NBA Draft, this season scheduled for July 29 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.Richmond native Fardaws Aimaq, the 6-foot-11, 245 pound rising redshirt junior centre with the Utah Valley University Wolverines, who […]

North Vancouver's Robert Sacre has returned from an NBA and international playing career to begin his foray into basketball management with the CEBL's Fraser Valley Bandits. (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)
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Robert Sacre: Energized by his Gonzaga/Lakers past, Fraser Valley Bandits’ new assistant GM makes a hoops homecoming!

He attended Vancouver Grizzlies games as a kid, then went on to play in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers.And through it all, it’s hard to think of anyone who has more passionately repped B.C.’s Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley regions as rightful professional basketball territory than Robert Sacre.With all of that in mind, […]

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VL Podcast 03.10.21: Simon Fraser coach Steve Hanson reflects on what March Madness means to him, including a thrilling B.C. AAA title in 2012 at Terry Fox!

Welcome back to Varsity Letters-The Podcast! This week, as the Langley Events Centre re-plays classic B.C. boys basketball championship finals, we have a guest who has coached in one of the most memorable finishes ever. Before he assumed the head role with SFU men’s basketball in 2016-17, Steve Hanson was the co-coach of the Terry […]

If Utah Valley's Fardaws Aimaq can maintain his current pace and win the NCAA Div. 1 rebounding title, he would have the highest average since the late 1970s. (Photo by Jay Drowns, property of Utah Valley University Marketing 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Richmond’s rebounder for the ages: A craving for caroms has Utah Valley’s Fardaws Aimaq treading on historic NCAA Div. 1 hardwood!

As the NCAA men’s Div. 1 regular season draws towards its completion, the microscope trained one of B.C.’s high school basketball’s most remarkable grads has continued to intensify.Yet nothing is slowing down the per-game rebounding average of former Steveston-London grad Fardaws Aimaq, the 6-foot-11, 260-pound redshirt sophomore centre with the Utah Valley Wolverines.With four more […]

Fraser Valley Cascades' guard Jordyn Sekhon has remained ready for his big opportunity at the U SPORTS level. Until the pandemic hit, many felt that breakthrough was going to happen in 2020-21. Now, the former W.J. Mouat grad is counting the days until next season tips off. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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A Sunday Read: After making the biggest shot of his life, UFV Cascades’ guard Jordyn Sekhon reflects on the power of preparation!

It was the late, great John Wooden who once quipped: “When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare.”Delivered a full half-century ago, in an era where catchphrases weren’t so immediately fated to become commercialized cliches, the wise words of the Wizard of Westwood have retained a dignity and a depth of meaning so instantly relevant […]

Resilient through all his hurdles, prodigious Trinity Western guard Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath is gearing up for his U SPORTS finale in 2021-22. (Photo by Scott Stewart property of Trinity Western athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

‘Q’ the comeback! As TWU preps for Shoot for the Cure fundraiser, Spartans’ coach Pridie can’t hide pride for resilient superstar guard Ja’Qualyn Gilbreath!

LANGLEY — One year later, it’s time to cue the comeback… or should that be ‘Q’ the comeback?Fans of the men’s basketball team at Trinity Western University are clearly hoping so.On Thursday, the Spartans faithful as well as Canada West hoops afficionados will have their first opportunity since the early days of 2020 to watch […]

Sands Scorpions head coach Matt McKay (crouching) isn't able to coach up his teamm during timeout this season, but the North Delta-based bench boss is hosting a series of online basketball clinics featuring coaches from all over North America. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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It’s a continental hoops cuisine! Matt McKay’s virtual Sands Basketball Clinics unite B.C. & North American coaches in the name of the game!

NORTH DELTA — They say that silence is deafening, and in perhaps the cruelest of ways, that was the auditory state most common among both high school basketball players and their coaches as each began 2021 by walking into gymnasiums normally teeming with the activity of a season in progress.“We all realized that last Wednesday […]

Steveston-London grad Fardaws Aimaq is a rebounding machine with a firm grip on his basketball future just seven games into his sophomore season with the Utah Valley Wolverines. (Photo by Jay Drowns property of Utah Valley University Marketing 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Fardaws Aimaq: From Steveston-London to the top of the NCAA D-1 rebounding charts at Utah Valley…is the NBA next for B.C.’s rising 6-foot-11 star?

Look up… look way up!Okay B.C. basketball fans, do you see that name right at the very tip-top of the list of the leading rebounders this season for all of NCAA Div. 1 men’s basketball?In case you were wondering just where the winding basketball roads had taken Fardaws Aimaq ever since the 6-foot-11 centre took […]