By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caSURREY — In your entire high school life, is there any course in the classroom you could take that would teach you the true meaning of sacrifice and perseverance in the quest of your cause better than playing a win-or-go home basketball game for a berth to the B.C. championships?Better still, how about […]
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Varsity Letters bulletin: Coaches and players, please be patient as we finalize our dates for Dec. 2026 Tsumura Basketball Invitationals for girls and boys at the Langley Events Centre!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caTOWNSHIP OF LANGLEY — Hello to our community of senior girls and boys high school basketball coaches around the province of B.C.Howard Tsumura here today with a message to everyone wondering about the dates for the 2026 Tsumura Basketball Invitational which has traditionally been played over the first two weeks of December.Due to […]
02.16.26 BC Basketball Metrics edition: Where are the best boys provincial berth battles! Too many to choose, but how about 4A South Fraser, Okanagan, plus 3A Van Isle and 1A East Valley!
By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersLANGLEY —Interesting how much intrigue the wildcard factor is ramping up the chatter around the province as we get to that stage of the season where it’s win-or-go-home in the chase for B.C. boys tournament berths.Through our weekly B.C. Basketball Metrics peeks, the plot lines have clearly been sketched, but like any […]
A Sunday Read: It’s a new high for No. 3 Grandview Heights, and for Grizzlies head coach Drew Gallacher, the chance to inspire seems a role he was born to play! Just ask the Fighting Finnegan himself!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caSURREY — Did you happen to see the current week’s B.C. senior boys high school basketball rankings for the Quad-A tier when they were published on these pages Wednesday afternoon?There they were, South Surrey’s Grandview Heights Grizzlies perched all the way at No. 3!You could say ‘Who?’ and you wouldn’t be wrong, yet […]
Simon Fraser men’s basketball: Red Leafs lean on 40 minutes of team play, snap nine-game GNAC skid as vets and rising rookie Sartaj Bhangu top visiting Western Oregon Wolves!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caBURNABY MOUNTAIN — Two nights after letting a 14-point second-half lead slip through their fingers, the Simon Fraser Red Leafs proved to themselves what a difference a full 40 minutes of on-court togetherness can mean.Rookie forward Sartaj Bhangu equalled his own career-high with 16 points and also grabbed set a new career-high in […]
02.11.26 Top 10 edition: Vancouver Sea-to-Sky, South Fraser, Van Isle zones wielding the late-season hammer as the countdown to B.C. boys high school tourney-tip off reaches three weeks!
LANGLEY — Three weeks from today, a total of 32 sudden-elimination games will be on the docket as the 2026 B.C. senior boys high school basketball championships tip off at the Langley Events Centre.For a fun exercise in fortune telling, look at the projected Final Fours based on the top four at each of B.C.’s […]
So who’s on the bubble for the B.C. boys basketball tourney’s four coveted ‘strength-berth’ spots? With BC Basketball Metrics’ weekly numbers, we offer thoughts, and look at the week’s biggest news!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caLANGLEY — Putting a bit of a microscope to our third week of B.C. Basketball Metrics numbers is proving to generate all kinds of fun, stats-driven questions.We’ll start out with the biggest news in terms of movement this past week, with a look at the Quad-A, Triple-A and Double-A scenes.Then, we’ll look at […]
Fourth-quarter steals highlight ‘disruptive’ UBC mindset as No. 6 ‘Birds rally to top No. 1 Vikes, setting stage for a winner-take-all Pacific Division finale Saturday in the B.C. capital!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caVICTORIA — In ancient mythology, the gods made news by stealing fire from each other.On Friday, the UBC Thunderbirds made some fourth-quarter headlines of their own by instead stealing basketballs and ultimately the game’s momentum, keeping hopes alive of an 11th-hour fastbreak to the Canada West’s Pacific Division title.Trailing by as many as […]
No. 3 Seaquam 84 No. 5 Johnston Heights 77: While Puneet and Callie combine for 87 points, we search for the silver lining in a game ‘nobody won’!
By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersNORTH DELTA — Ever watch a high school basketball game in which at its conclusion both teams could rightly claim a loss, yet along the way to said result, laid bare a pure guts performance so compelling that as a spectator you just felt fortunate to have been in the gym?That was […]
02.04.26 Sr. Boys Top 10 ranks: Epic home-and-home sets at 4A, 3A define the greatness of BC boys hoops! Saints-Irish, Enver-Matheson battles carry the day! Plus our final Jr. Boys Top 10!
LANGLEY — The Vancouver Independent league race between St. Georges and Vancouver College lived up to its late-season legend.Each team took turns winning on the other’s home court in a home-and-home last Thursday and Tuesday with the then-No. 1 Fighting Irish coming away with a 94-82 win in the first game, before the then-No. 7-Saints […]