The University of Victoria Vikes are ranked No. 2 in the U Sports national top-10 men’s basketball poll and they could be sticking around those heady heights for a while. Like the next four or five seasons.
“We are a young group and six of our rotational guys are in their first or second seasons,” said UVic head coach Craig Beaucamp.
“It’s very promising.”
Freshmen Izzy Helman out of Claremont Secondary, Shadynn Smid from Cowichan Secondary and Renoldo Robinson from Montreal have made immediate impacts. Sophomores Ethan Boag out of Claremont, Sergio Pereira from Shawnigan Lake School and last season’s sa国际传媒 West rookie-of-the-year Elias Ralph from Okotoks, Alta., continue apace with their progress.
“Our young guys have responded well,” said Beaucamp.
“Diego Maffia [UVic’s leading scorer with a 21.8 points-per-game average] is considered a veteran and he’s only in his third year.”
But there has been a learning curve during the process of growing.
“Being young, we’ve had our ups and downs to start conference play [4-2], and there are a couple of games the guys would like to have back,” said Beaucamp.
The re-emergence of the Vikes program began last season as graduated players Scott Kellum and Matt Ellis led UVic to the sa国际传媒 West championship and UVic’s first berth in the U Sports national championship tournament since 2015.
“Our young guys are used to being there now. They don’t know any different. The air is not different for them up there [high in the national rankings]. They expect to win,” said Beaucamp.
“Being ranked No. 2 is good for recognition and helps in recruiting and expressing nationally the state of the program and things like that.”
UVic is ranked behind only the dynastic top-ranked Carleton Ravens in an Ontario-dominated top-five with the Brock Badgers third, Queen’s Golden Gaels fourth and Ottawa Gee Gees fifth. The University of Alberta Golden Bears are No. 6 and UBC Thunderbirds No. 9 to give sa国际传媒 West three teams in the U Sports top-10.
Among UVic’s few fifth-year players is American forward Dominick Oliveri from Spokane, Washington, who leads the Vikes in rebounding with a 13.3 per-game average.
UVic meets the Trinity Western Spartans (4-2) tonight at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m. at CARSA gym in sa国际传媒 West play.
“The Spartans come in with the same record as us and are a dynamic offensive team that can score, so defensive transition is going to be key for us,” said Beaucamp.
The UVic women’s squad (2-4), meanwhile, meets Trinity Western (4-2) in sa国际传媒 West games tonight at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m. in CARSA gym. Fifth-year star forward Ashlyn Day from Kelowna leads the Vikes in scoring with a 22.3 points-per-game average while third-year forward Brooklyn White from Abbotsford leads UVic on the boards with 7.8 rebounds per game.
