VANCOUVER — It’s mid-November, his UBC Thunderbirds have already played 16 games… and won them all.“But I still don’t know who our best five guys are when it comes to playing the best together,” head coach Kevin Hanson explained following practice Wednesday.With his No. 2 nationally-ranked ‘Birds set to play host to the No. 1-ranked […]
Tag: Canada West basketball
Buchanan Cup 2022: For UBC’s James Woods, a career defined by beating the odds makes ‘Boy Wonder’ a well-earned nickname!
VANCOUVER — Deep down in his basketball soul, James Woods has always been Boy Wonder.It’s the nickname he picked up before he was old enough to shave, before he even started to play high school basketball for Langley’s Walnut Grove Gators.And on Friday night (7:30 p.m.), when he pulls on his No. 11 UBC jersey […]
Trinity Western opens its 2021-21 men’s U SPORTS season Thursday vs. Calgary! Debut for Spartans’ dynamic backcourt of Ja’Qualyn Gilbreath and Mason Bourcier!
LANGLEY — The longest dry spell in the history of U SPORTS basketball is set to end on Thursday.“I think we’re (one of) the first U SPORTS team in the country to play,” says Trinity Western Spartans’ men’s basketball coach Trevor Pridie, looking ahead to Thursday’s limited capacity pre-season exhibition opener against the powerhouse Calgary […]
Simon Fraser vs. UBC: The classic men’s B.C. university basketball rivalry is re-born! Mark down Nov. 20 at SFU for a rowdy Buchanan Cup tip-off!
BURNABY — For once in a long while the basketball stars at Simon Fraser and UBC have aligned.The end result?The Lower Mainland’s longest standing men’s basketball rivals have agreed to make Saturday, Nov. 20 the date for the resumption of the classic Buchanan Cup series, this edition seeing the Thunderbirds traveling up Burnaby Mountain to […]
UFV Cascades’ never-say-die defence enough to top UBC and show just how tough one Canada West win can be, let alone 313!
ABBOTSFORD — On a night when one of the biggest coaching records in Canadian university basketball sat on the precipice of falling, a home underdog determined to have a night of its own dug deep and played the role of spoiler, in the process illuminating just how hard it actually is to win games in […]
UFV Women’s Basketball: Forget the Fab Five! Cascades’ freshman-filled Fab Four combine for 50 points in win over UBC
ABBOTSFORD — Don’t hold it against Jessica Parker just because she doesn’t know the history of the Fab Five.After all, the Fraser Valley Cascades’ high-scoring pure freshman guard wasn’t even born when Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Ray Jackson and Jimmy King arrived on the scene, baggy shorts and all, way back in 1991, […]
Varsity Letters B.C. Recruits List 2019: Where 88 boys basketball prospects are headed this coming season
LANGLEY — Even over an offseason in which the majority of local university programs are not brining in big classes, there almost 100 names to note provincially in the world of high school-to-post-secondary men’s basketball. All told, that adds up to 182 names between our boys and girls lists, among the most we’ve ever had.
Varsity Letters B.C. Recruits List 2019: Where 99 girls basketball prospects are headed this coming season
LANGLEY — B.C.’s graduating class of girls high school stars will deliver their talent all over the continent this fall, touching all three NCAA divisions, as well as U Sports, CCAA, NAIA and NJCAA institutions. Here’s your guide to who’s going where. If we’ve missed someone, let us know at howardtsumura@gmail.com and we’ll make the additions. And […]
UBC hoops back in Halifax! On long journey to Final 8 nationals, here’s why you can stamp these underdog ‘Birds as ‘battle-tested’
VANCOUVER — Over the course of a 17-game in-conference win streak which defined its Canada West regular season schedule, it was sometimes difficult to wonder if the UBC Thunderbirds were getting the level of competition which would best serve them on the road towards qualifying for the ultimate challenge.
The unknown Cascade who made the grade: One big break was all Parm Bains needed to lead UFV hoops in scoring
ABBOTSFORD — He had no team to belong to, and he was running out of dreams to chase. Two years ago, for the first time since he’d given himself to a life in basketball, Parm Bains was a student, and not a student-athlete.