When it comes to triple coverage, the St. Thomas More senior boys’ 52nd Chancellor Basketball Tournament this week has it down pat.
Six of the top seven-ranked 3-A teams will hit the hardwood at the Burnaby private school for a four-day mash-up, beginning 8:30 a.m. today (Wednesday) with No. 6-ranked Argyle taking on No. 7-rated G.W. Graham.
The expectations are to expect anything, as the battle lines and measuring sticks will be drawn, and redrawn after each game leading up to Saturday’s 6 p.m. final.
Atop the latest provincial poll, Burnaby’s Byrne Creek Bulldogs begin the tourney against unranked Brookswood (3:30 p.m.), while the host Knights draw Maple Ridge for a noon tip-off.
Bulldogs’ coach Bal Dhillon zeroed in on one aspect when asked what he wants to see from his squad.
“I want to see us rebound the ball well. We struggled on the boards a bit the last while so I’d like to see that improve,” said Dhillon. “If we can control the boards I’ll be happy.”
The Bulldogs’ coach puts little stock in the polls, which were put out prior to Byrne Creek’s loss to defending provincial champion Rick Hansen 70-55 at their Abbotsford tourney final on Dec. 23.
Last week, the Bulldogs returned the favour last week with a solid exhibition win over Hansen, who play tonight’s 8:45 p.m. spotlight game against Vernon.
“Hansen is a very well-coached, good team so they are dangerous,” noted Dhillon. “They were the better team (on Dec. 23). ... I think there are some very good teams (at the Chancellor) that are not ranked who are very capable of beating those who are.”
Among those already in the spotlight are No. 2 McMath, No. 3 Sir Charles Tupper, and No. 5 North Delta.
Last year, STM knocked off Byrne Creek 65-56 in the final, with both teams using that as a springboard to a provincial tournament run.
Although his program is in ‘reboot’ mode, with a young lineup, STM assistant coach/vice-principal Aaron Mitchell believes it’s in the challenge where the squad will gain a lot in terms of confidence, win or lose.
“We always tell the kids we don’t book cupcake games for ourselves,” said Mitchell, who has handed the head coaching duties to Michael Cheung.
Mitchell said putting together the 16-team tourney is always a tough puzzle, with the demands on each coach and the all-day format a juggling act. He’s pleased that, even with a few teams dropping out and some late replacements, that the weekend is full of great programs and esteemed coaches, like Maple Ridge’s Ken Dockendorf and Dhillon.
“Our whole perspective is we always want to attract the good coaches and programs year-after-year, no matter how they stand in the rankings,” said Mitchell. “For teams at this time, they are coming off the holiday break and they just want to get back in the swing of things.”
The opening day draw continues at 10:15 a.m. with McMath playing Robert Bateman, followed by STM-Maple Ridge at noon; at 1:45 p.m. Tupper takes on honourable mentioned McNair, leading up to the Byrne Creek-Brookswood match at 3:30 p.m.; Fleetwood Park plays Steveston-London at 5:15 p.m., Centennial takes on North Delta at 7 p.m., with Rick Hansen playing Vernon at 8:45 p.m.
Quarter-final games are slated for 3:30, 5:15, 7 and 8:45 p.m. on Thursday, while the semifinals go 7 and 8:45 p.m. on Friday.
