By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersNORTH VANCOUVER — Wonder what one of the best high school basketball teams in the province had planned for in the early morning hours of today, the first Tuesday in February?“Umm, we have wind sprints at 7:10 a.m., tomorrow morning… and it’s on purpose, right?” Anthony Beyrouti, head coach of the Quad-A […]
Author: Howard Tsumura
02.02.26 edition: Pipers, Panthers, Crusaders and T-Wolves hold down the fort! Are latest BC senior girls Top 10 rankings the calm before the playoff storm?
LANGLEY — The calm before the storm.That’s perhaps the easiest way, ahead of the stretch-drive run to playoffs, to describe the quietest week of the B.C. senior girls basketball season… at least as far as movement in the provincial rankings is concerned.The Lambrick Park Pride’s four-spot rise in Double-A aside, the figurative pond remained placid […]
02.02.26: B.C. Basketball Metrics boys combined team ratings: 4A Rutland, 3A Brentwood College, 2A D.P. Todd the week’s biggest climbers!
By HOWARD TSUMURAVARSITY LETTERSLANGLEY — Reader response was excellent last week as Varsity Letters and B.C. Basketball Metrics debuted with its co-operative presentation of Top 16 and Zone ratings for B.C. senior boys basketball. We’re back with Week 2 and as the post-season beckons, it’s pretty apparent that nothing beats a good regional clash, whatever […]
01.28.26 edition: Vancouver College top both the B.C. senior Quad-A and junior boys provincial Top 10 rankings! Here’s all five tiers as March Madness creeps up ever closer!
LANGLEY — So may call it an eternal question, yet more than ever, this is the week to ask if this is indeed the year of the Vancouver College Fighting Irish? At least as it pertains to the spoils of March Madness.This week, the Irish sit at No. 1 in both the Quad-A senior boys […]
For Simon Fraser’s Mikyle Malabuyoc, it’s all about the orchestration of the score! Red Leafs’ point guard set to dish dimes as team celebrates Filipino Heritage Night on Thursday vs. Alaska Nanooks!
By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersBURNABY MOUNTAIN — A great conductor will tell you that there is infinitely more to performing a great symphonic score than just looking at notes and abiding by time signatures.It’s more about seeing the big picture, and within the details, trusting that through the repetition of rehearsal that your vision is both […]
01.26.26 edition: The latest B.C. senior girls Top 10 basketball ranks: Vernon Panthers take over top spot in latest Triple-A Top 10, Argyle Pipers maintain top sot at Quad A!
LANGLEY — We’ve got the latest B.C. senior girls high school basketball rankings for Jan. 26., 2026.The big move this week?The Vernon Panthers have ascended to the No. 1 spot in the Triple-A ranks.A note to readers who have asked about getting rankings for the tiers that are not represented in this space… unfortunately we […]
01.26.26: B.C. Basketball Metrics boys combined team ratings: Top 16s for all four tiers, plus ratings for all four tiers broken down by zone and provincial berths!
By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersLANGLEY — Today, Varsity Letters teams up with B.C. Basketball Metrics for a second straight season to present BCBBM’s analytical lookout the best senior boys basketball teams in the province.As you will see below, the weekly package this season has expanded to include eight different sets of statistical packages. Perhaps more simply, […]
A Sunday Read: With family roots in Bucharest and Belgrade, and a deep love of Euro-hoops in his soul, Centennial’s Grade 12 big man Alex Birsan turns versatility into 35 points-per-game!
By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersCOQUITLAM — He may still be only 17 years old, but ask Alex Birsan to name the NBA player who has perhaps been the most influential in terms of his approach to the game, and his response just confirms his old-school cool.“Obviously, nowadays it’s Luka Dončić and (Nikola) Jokić,” the 6-foot-7 senior […]
Abby’s hometown hero Dil Randhawa finds three-point redemption, fires game-high 24 points as UFV Cascades snap 11-game UBC win streak with 91-85 victory over No. 3-ranked Birds!
By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersABBOTSFORD — The Fraser Valley Cascades opened the Pacific Division men’s basketball campaign back on Oct. 24 at UBC’s War Memorial Gym with an injury-riddled line-up and a shooting game in desperate need of bandages.Yet despite taking an 85-67 loss to the hometown Thunderbirds that night and starting the season with an […]
Sophie Bergeron: In the wake of a career-defining 30-point, 10-steal performance, Simon Fraser’s ‘Poumon’ embraces the cerebral nature of the classroom and the West Gym!
By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersBURNABY — Sophie Bergeron is fun to watch but almost impossible to describe.And really, what could be better?She arrived last season to the Simon Fraser Red Leafs as an athletic prodigy, yet proceeded to demonstrate the need for the kind of seasoning which was as much about the cerebral part of the […]