Nobody will describe next year's UNBC Northern Timberwolves as undersized.
On Friday, the local men's basketball team announced the commitment of six-foot-four guard/forward Charles Barton to the program. Barton becomes the third off-season addition who will need an extra long uniform. The other towering newcomers are six-foot-10 post player Kevan Madsen -- who will return after a season missed due to academic ineligibility -- and six-foot-six forward Gabe Aubertin.
Last season, the Timberwolves were skilled but small. Ultimately, their lack of size in the paint was a major factor in their inability to defend the provincial and national championships they claimed in 2009-10.
UNBC head coach Todd Jordan has every right to be a little giddy about the altitude he has added to the team.
"I've been pretty fortunate," he said. "The thing is, we've gotten bigger but it's not like I'm just bringing in big bodies that are just big bodies. They can all play. I'm hoping that we'll still be able to play the up-tempo style we've been playing and we'll just be a little bigger doing it."
Barton is a Vernon product who played high school ball with UNBC guard Joel Rybachuk. After he was finished lighting up high school scoreboards, Barton jumped straight to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport level with the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack of Kamloops. He spent two seasons with the WolfPack, primarily as a defensive specialist, and then took last season off so he could work and pay down some student loans.
The fact Barton has CIS experience is a bonus for UNBC, which has applied to join the Canada West conference of the CIS for the 2012-13 season. Currently, UNBC's basketball and soccer teams compete in the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association.
"Physically, he can definitely play at that CIS level and hang with the athletes at that level," Jordan said.
And, if the Timberwolves remain in the college ranks, Barton could be a dominating presence.
"You hope so," Jordan said with a laugh. "The nice thing about adding him is that it will create match-up problems for teams that play against us, especially in the league we're in right now. We're going to be able to put three, four guys out there that can all play in the post and we're going to be able to post up our guards a little bit more."
While the T-wolves will be much deeper up front, they'll be a little shallower at guard. Gone are graduated backcourt stars Inderbir Gill and Matt Mills, while the slick-shooting Sebastien-Kevin Louis is all but certain to return to his hometown of Montreal to play for the Concordia University Stingers. UNBC will still have Rybachuk, Francis Rowe and Sam Raphael at guard, as well as rookie Billy Cheng, who committed to the program earlier this month.
"We've lost some pretty big pieces but I definitely feel comfortable with the group that we've brought in," Jordan said. "All four of those guys [Barton, Madsen, Aubertin and Cheng] are guys that have a history of being very successful at either the college or high school level. I'm really looking forward to coaching this group next year and I think we've got a really good opportunity of continuing the success we've had over the last couple years."
