With the changing of the calendar comes a number of traditional must-see events.
Among those is the 51st annual St. Thomas More Chancellor senior boys basketball tournament, where many of the high school game’s upper tier talents measure their skills and game-playing knowledge against each other, like kids comparing toys after Christmas.
This year’s Chancellor is loaded with risers of both the Triple-A and Double-A variety, beginning with the hosts. The Knights were rated No. 2 in the most recent Province hoop poll, while crosstown rival Byrne Creek sits No. 3.
The rank-and-file in the 16-team tourney include St. Michael’s, ranked first in Double-A, and G.W. Graham, listed third.
But, according to STM head coach Aaron Mitchell, all those numbers are like 2016 New Year’s resolutions – old news and not worth talking about.
“It’s still early in the season, we’ve just gotten through the Christmas break so we just want to see how we’ve improved,” said Mitchell, whose team has a 4-1 record to date against B.C. competition. “We don’t look at the (rankings) much and really know what we need to do is focus on getting better at each practice and in each game.”
The tournament kicked off Wednesday with McMath topping Burnaby Mountain 61-49, while St. Thomas More bested Pitt Meadows 59-51 in a tight, slow-moving contest. Byrne Creek outlasted Maple Ridge 71-51.
Being on opposite sides of the draw, there is a chance that No. 2 STM could meet No. 3 Byrne in Saturday’s final – slated to tip-off at 6 p.m. It would be a great matchup, but Mitchell said his squad will continue to use each game as a lesson, win or lose, and look for improvements.
“The main difference from last year is we have a lot of returning players that are transitioning from Grade 11s to 12s, they’ve learned from that experience,” he said. “We’re more mentally prepared on a day-to-day basis, that we’re looking at things positively.”
Seeing concrete improvement, quarter by quarter, game-by-game, is really what's important at this time of the year, Mitchell said.
"I'm not paying attention to any rankings or those numbers. It's all about progressing and learning."
