Their run to the provincial double-A senior boys high school basketball championship is now eight months old 鈥� a wonderful memory for head coach Ian Hyde-Lay and his St. Michaels University School Blue Jags.
But the new season is upon them now and focus is strictly on the 2015-16 Lower Island campaign.
鈥淎 little rust would be a fair call,鈥� Hyde-Lay said, looking ahead to his team鈥檚 regular-season start. 鈥淏ut I think as a coach, and with certainly someone who has been around as long as me, you shouldn鈥檛 get drawn into the fact that your mind is still where you were playing the previous March.
鈥淵ou get a completely new group and it鈥檚 early December, and you can鈥檛 ever compare those two. But we鈥檙e optimistic. The guys are always working hard and giving everything they have so you can never be dissatisfied with that.鈥�
It鈥檚 a fresh start for the Blue Jags who return just two players from the 2014-15 championship 鈥� six-foot-four forward Lucas de Vries and six-foot-one guard Alec Keech.
The Blue Jags don鈥檛 start regular-season play until a week from today against Belmont, a team SMUS defeated by 10 in exhibition play last week. The Jags lost 64-52 to Shawnigan on Friday in the Independent Schools Association tournament and the Lambrick Park Lions are expected to rule the roost in double-A.
鈥淎t this time, they are definitely better than us,鈥� Hyde-Lay said of Shawnigan. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got two players back out of 13, so it鈥檚 inevitable that there鈥檚 going to be a learning curve for everyone..
鈥淭raditionally, we always work hard and tend to get better as the season goes on. That鈥檚 our goal this year. Last year was one of those special years where we had a lot of talent and a lot of senior experience.鈥�
The strength of the local senior boys Division 1 league is with Oak Bay once again, suggested Hyde-Lay.
鈥淚f you look at it, I would say Oak Bay is No. 1 and Lambrick Park is No. 2 and the rest are in the mix. On the Island, Brentwood has improved from last year and Shawnigan definitely improved on last year. At the double-A level, Lambrick will be a top seed,鈥� he stressed.
Brentwood defeated Shawnigan in an exciting 73-70 overtime finish at the ISA tournament over the weekend.
The Oak Bay Bays officially opened the local regular season with a hefty 93-44 win over Spectrum in the only game of the week. Isaiah Romanow, Cam Henderson, Myka Tang-Blumenschein, Caelan Scott and Jaden Touchie all had double-digit outings with Scott 鈥� the only player under six feet at five-foot-11 鈥� nailing down three three-pointers.
Kobe Morris and Alam Jawanda had 12 and 10 points , respectively, for Spectrum, with five threes between the two of them.
Oak Bay 鈥� which gets Nick Mickelberry, Madhu McConnell and Matt Griffin back from the sa国际传媒 championship volleyball team this week 鈥� is ranked No. 7 in the province and No. 1 on the Island, ahead of Cowichan, G.P. Vanier, Dover Bay, Belmont, Claremont and Spectrum in quadruple-A play.
鈥淭he process is to get better against good teams,鈥� said Bays coach Chris Franklin, whose team competed at the Kodiak Klassic tournament this past weekend and will travel to Claremont tonight to face the Spartans. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to get in as many games as we can against good competition because our goal is to play good, strong basketball.鈥�
Oak Bay ventures to the Vancouver College tournament this weekend and then plays host to its annual Gary Taylor Classic event, Dec. 17-19.
Lambrick Park 鈥� No. 2 in the sa国际传媒 double-A rankings 鈥� will be led by head coach Ed Somers鈥� twins, Austin and Calvin, and Ben Reddy. The Lions open the regular season tonight when they host Spectrum.
鈥淚 think Lambrick will be the class of 2A basketball in the province,鈥� added Franklin.
Nanaimo, Ballenas, Wellington and Mount Douglas are the top four rated triple-A teams on the Island and in talent-loaded double-A, it鈥檚 Lambrick Park, Brentwood, Shawnigan Lake, SMUS, Glenlyon Norfolk School, Pacific Christian, Gulf Islands, Kwalikum, Parkland and Edward Milne in the top 10.
