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This is the year for UNBC men |
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Written by Jason Peters
Citizen staff
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Thursday, 05 November 2009 |
Fourth-year guard Inderbir Gill is one of eight returning players for the UNBC Northern Timberwolves. Gill was an All-Canadian last season in the BCCAA and he's expected to lead the top-ranked T-wolves again in 2009-10. (Citizen file photo)
Expectations are high.
The UNBC Northern Timberwolves start the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association men’s basketball season tonight in Vancouver with a game against the Langara College Falcons. The Timberwolves enter the contest as the top-ranked team in the BCCAA and the No. 4 seed in Canada.
Prognostication is far from an exact science, but basketball evaluators have good reason to consider UNBC as an elite club, both provincially and within the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association.
The T-wolves, after all, have eight players back from the team that finished fourth in last season’s national championship tournament. And, during the off-season, head coach Mike Raimbault hit some home runs in the recruiting game. Then there’s the fact that the Timberwolves ran to a 5-1 pre-season record against college-level competition.
Add it all up, and these T-wolves should win far more often than they lose.
“I haven’t seen much of the other teams in our league, but based off of our practices and our pre-season schedule, I’m very happy with how the teammates and myself have been playing,” said third-year post player Dennis Stark. “It’s hard to say (if we’re better than last year). Last year’s group was a very special one too. But I think coach Raimbault was able to bring in some very talented players and I definitely think we have the potential to be better than last year’s team.”
The six-foot-four Stark was at his best during last season’s provincial and national tournaments. There were times during nationals, held at the Northern Sport Centre, when nobody else on the court could match his explosiveness and power in the paint. Stark was picked as a second-team all-star at nationals and will be one of this season’s go-to guys. But, he does have an impressive collection of skilled individuals around him.
In the group of returning players, fourth-year guard Inderbir Gill brings All-Canadian credentials to the floor. When games are up for grabs in the final moments, he’s the guy who wants the ball in his hands. He can hit the outside shot, he can drive to the rim and he can make magical feeds to teammates. For all these attributes and others, Gill was selected as an All-Canadian prior to the 2009 national tournament and, at nationals, made the first all-star team.
Other returning T-wolves in the backcourt are the sweet-shooting tandem of Matt Mills and Francis Rowe, the always-intense Joel Rybachuk and defensive gem Sam Raphael. Also back in green and gold this season are post player Jesse Smith and forward Kenny Carnes. Last season, Carnes was a red-shirt but still got the benefit of practicing with the T-wolves and witnessing the team’s inspired performance at nationals.
As for the new faces, high-end recruits include third-year players Jose Araujo, Sebastien-Kevin Louis and Didier Sam. Araujo, a guard from Toronto, has seen international duty with El Salvador, while Louis and Sam - from Montreal - were top talents in the Quebec college league last season. Louis is a five-foot-11 guard and Sam stands six-foot-five in the post. Two other new post players are rookies Abdu Benrabah of Victoria and Prince George’s Kevan Madsen. During pre-season, all these folks made impressions on Stark.
“Kevan, Abdu and Didier have all been showing me things that I would really like to be better at doing in the post,” said the 20-year-old Stark. “And all the new guards, they do things I probably can never dream of doing. Honestly, every single guy that’s on that team can play.”
One player not yet mentioned is Stark’s younger brother, Daniel, a six-foot-one guard who was a teammate of Madsen’s last season at Kelly Road. Daniel Stark is known for his tremendous court sense and all-around abilities. And yes, he has caught the eyes of big bro.
“He’s good,” Dennis Stark said. “I think all
the teammates like him and I know he likes everybody on the squad. I’m really proud of him and it’s nice to be playing with him again. It’s been four years since I played with him last so it’s really cool to see how far he’s come.”
The Timberwolves and Falcons will also meet on Saturday. Raimbault is more than ready to get things going.
“It’s been an interesting and fun pre-season and now it’s time to start the real season,” he said. “I think everyone is excited to go into league play.”
The first part of the 18-game schedule could be draining for the Timberwolves because they’ll play their opening five games away from home. They won’t suit up at the NSC until Nov. 27 when the Quest University Kermodes arrive for the first half of a doubleheader.
“We should be getting used to life on the road by now, having to travel three weeks of the pre-season and now being on the road for the first three weekends of league,” Raimbault said. “We’re looking at it as a good challenge. We just want to take things one game at a time. We’re prepared to go into Langara, which will probably be a pretty tough place to play. Hopefully it’s a fun game (tonight).
“Everything that we’ve done so far has been keyed off of our defence,” Raimbault added. “We have a pretty talented group of guards so we have to do a good job defensively, communicating and containing penetration and just trying to really dictate the tempo.”
The UNBC women also start their season tonight at Langara.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 05 November 2009 )
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