The UNBC Northern Timberwolves have drawn a bear of an assignment in their first game at nationals.
The Timberwolves learned on Monday they'll face the Lethbridge Community College Kodiaks in the opening round of the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association men's basketball championship. The T-wolves enter the eight-team event as the No. 4 seed and the Kodiaks are No. 5.
Nationals are March 17-19 in Oshawa, Ont.
The Timberwolves are coming off a 16-2 regular season, a silver medal in provincials, and are the defending Canadian champs. The Kodiaks, meanwhile, went 17-1 in the South Division of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference this season. In their provincial playoffs, they also settled for silver after a 93-66 loss to the NAIT Ooks of Edmonton in the final game.
But, heading into playoffs, the Kodiaks were ranked No. 2 in the CCAA. And, they were in that spot for much of the season so they can certainly play.
"Lethbridge, they're a tough team," said UNBC head coach Todd Jordan. "Obviously I don't know too much about them. I did talk to a couple coaches out in Alberta [Monday] and they've got a big guy [six-foot-seven forward Dom Coward] who's a very good rebounder. He's averaging close to 13 rebounds a game. And then from what I've heard, offensively they play similar to us in a lot of ways, where they play four perimeter guys and look to penetrate and kick and shoot quite a few threes. Defensively, they play quite a bit of two-three zone and that's something we haven't seen a lot of in our conference, partially because we've been pretty successful against it."
Both UNBC and Lethbridge received wildcard berths in nationals.
The Vancouver Island University Mariners, who beat the T-wolves 96-90 in Saturday night's B.C. final, are the top-ranked team for nationals. They are followed, in order, by NAIT, the Humber College Hawks of Toronto, UNBC, Lethbridge, the Mount Saint Vincent University Mystics of Halifax, the Vanier Cheetahs of St. Laurent, Que., and the host Durham College Lords.
"I think everyone in our locker room believes if we put together a good weekend we're as likely as anybody to come away from there with the title," Jordan said. "We just have to play with full-out intensity for 40 minutes every game we're there. We just have to be playing our best basketball."
Even though the Timberwolves got into nationals as a wildcard team, Jordan said he doesn't think any of the other clubs will take them lightly.
"I think most people are pretty aware of our guys, and the fact that we were there and won it last year, I don't think anyone's going to look past us," he said.
n Also on Monday, Inderbir Gill of the Timberwolves was chosen as a CCAA men's basketball athlete of the month for February. Gill got the national nod after he led his team to a 5-0 record in February. During those five outings, he averaged 23.6 points and 4.2 assists per game. From the field, he shot with 49.4 per cent efficiency.
