Longtime former Pitt Meadows senior boys basketball coach Rich Goulet passed away Sunday at the age of 74. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Wilson Wong photography 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

RIP, Coach: For Pitt Meadows & STM’s Rich Goulet (1946-2021), basketball was his student, his teacher and the air that he’d breathe

PITT MEADOWS — On Sunday, on what would be the final day of a life so completely devoted to his greatest passion, Rich Goulet made a simple request.“Scoresheets. He was asking for scoresheets from a Grade 9 basketball tournament,” said his nephew Dave Goulet who was bedside at the hospital, tending to the needs of […]

The North Delta senior Huskies pose 50 years ago today with the spoils of victory. (Photo courtesy BCHSBBA 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Fifty years ago today, North Delta’s basketball Huskies became B.C.’s first-ever dual junior and senior boys champions

Fifty years ago today, on March 27, 1971, a pioneering double-double took place on the hardcourt at the Pacific Coliseum when the North Delta Huskies became the first boys basketball program in B.C. history to win both the junior and senior provincial crowns in the same season.The sweep was completed when the Huskies defeated the […]

Sir Winston Churchill's Marah Dykstra will help lead her team as one of the new additions to the 20-team field at the 2021 Tsumura Basketball Invitational at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Girls Basketball

Tsumura Basketball Invitational: Churchill, Seaquam, SMUS join girls draw as boys, girls 40-team field now official for December 2021!

LANGLEY — We are thrilled with the 40 teams who have now finalized their participation in this coming December’s 2021 boys and girls Tsumura Basketball Invitationals at the Langley Events Centre.(The full list of finalized teams is included at the bottom of this story)Yet what has us even more excited is the response we have […]

Kelowna's Micah Borne. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. Boys Quad-A tip sheet: Star-studded and ready for 2021-22, here’s our look at 15 top rising seniors to watch!

The quietest Championship Saturday in the history of B.C. boys high school basketball has arrived.And while we have no actual games to celebrate, we can still celebrate the game itself and the resilience it has shown en route to a comeback in 2021-22.Today, to cap two straight weeks of looking ahead to some of next […]

Duchess Park's Cole Laing. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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B.C. boys Triple-A tip sheet: Here’s our look at 15 top rising seniors to watch as our 2021-22 hoops tip-off now officially on the clock!

Welcome back to our unofficial countdown to the start of the 2021-22 B.C. senior boys basketball season.In a normal year, we would all have our eyes trained on the Langley Events Centre for Final Four Friday.Instead, our first cancelled provincials leaves us looking for more.Today, Varsity Letters is honoured to present its list of 15 […]

King George's Max Astak is a player to watch in 2020-21. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Part 1: B.C. Boys Basketball Players to Watch in 2021-22! Double-A, Single A plus rising Grade 11 talent at Quad-, Triple- and Double-A tiers!

Today, with three more official days official pondering remaining in a 2020-21 B.C. senior boys basketball season that wasn’t, we begin a three-day countdown of sorts.From today through Saturday, Varsity Letters will reveal  the Players to Watch in 2021-22 with our back-to-back-to-back tip sheets, compiled by a committee of B.C. Boys High School Basketball Association coaches, […]

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, […]

Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

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)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

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)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

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 […]