The late Meat Loaf sang that two out of three ain’t bad. But sometimes it is. It’s particularly so if you are a high school basketball player this season on the Island.
The top-three Quad-A boys’ teams in sa国际传媒 are from the Island. Spectrum Thunder are top-ranked, Dover Bay Dolphins No. 2 and Oak Bay Bays No. 3. But there are only two Island berths available in the sa国际传媒 championship tournament in March at the Langley Events Centre, meaning one of the top-three teams in the province won’t qualify, which is boggling.
“It’s the talk of the basketball community, the hottest topic of conversation,” said Spectrum head coach Tyler Verde.
The Island seems to be a victim of its own success. The Thunder are the defending provincial Quad-A champions and Dolphins the defending sa国际传媒 Triple-A champions, the latter moving up to Quad-A this season based on its increased student population numbers, with both teams returning ferry-loads of players.
“It’s a crazy situation but the rules seem to be the rules,” said Verde. “We are going to see packed gyms this season whenever we play Oak Bay and Dover Bay, who also have players who are going to go on [to U Sports]. It’s going to be an amazing Island tournament [in February at Dover Bay].”
And certainly a cruel one for one of the big three teams.
Of the top three, Spectrum seems to be a cut above, led by Under-17 Team sa国际传媒 players Tyler Felt and Justin Hinrichsen, son of 2000 Sydney Olympian and former University of Victoria Vikes great Eric Hinrichsen. The pair are among 11 Thunder returnees from last year’s team that won the first sa国际传媒 boys’ basketball championship in school history, in its first appearance in the provincial tournament since the 1990s. No Island team has repeated as sa国际传媒 Quad-A champion since Oak Bay in 1973 and 1974, and only three other teams have ever done it.
“In our pre-season team goal-setting meeting, repeating as provincial champions was on top of the board along with going undefeated on the season,” said Verde. So far so good in the latter ambition as the Thunder are 4-0 so far, including a 78-73 win over sa国际传媒 No. 5-ranked St. George’s Saints of Vancouver in the final of the Cowichan tournament last weekend.
“We were not at our best that night but still grinded that one out against a top-five team,” said Verde.
The Lower Island regular season opened this week with Spectrum beating the Royal Bay Ravens 99-49.
The Santa Slam boys’ high school tournament begins today at the Mount Douglas Secondary gymnasium.
Meanwhile, the Mark Isfeld Ice of Courtenay and Wellington Wildcats of Nanaimo were honourable mentions in the latest sa国际传媒 boys’ Triple-A top-10 poll. Brentwood College is No. 6, Lambrick Park Lions No. 8, SMUS Blue Jags No. 9 and Shawnigan Lake an honourable mention in the Double-A poll, and the Brookes Westshore Gryphons No. 6 in the Single-A rankings.
In the pre-season girls’ high school rankings, Oak Bay was No. 9 in Quad-A and the Claremont Spartans an honourable mention. Mark Isfeld was No. 7 in Triple-A. The SMUS Blue Jags were top-ranked, Lambrick Park Pride No. 5 and Brentwood College an honourable mention in Double-A, and the PCS Pacers No. 2, Nanaimo Trail Blazers No. 8 and St. Margaret’s an honourable mention in Single-A.
