One of the great legacies in University of Victoria Vikes basketball history will be reprised with a second generation. Justin Hinrichsen will join Spectrum Thunder teammate Tyler Felt and Oak Bay Bays star Toren Franklin in a blockbuster recruit class coming to CARSA gym in the fall.
Hinrichsen is the son of Eric Hinrichsen, who led the Vikes to their last U Sports national title in 1997, before representing sa国际传媒 in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The younger Hinrichsen and Felt, who helped Team sa国际传媒 win silver at junior nationals over the summer, led Spectrum to the school’s first sa国际传媒 high school championship last year with Felt named provincial tournament MVP and they have the Thunder again ranked No. 1 in the province this season.
Franklin, their close friend and defending Island tournament MVP, got Oak Bay to third place last year in the provincial tournament and has the Bays ranked No. 3 in sa国际传媒 this season in an all-Island top three behind Spectrum and the Dover Bay Dolphins.
“They are unique players with no selfish mentality, as sometimes happens with high school players, who like to put up as many points as they can,” said UVic head coach Murphy Burnatowski.
“They do not force anything. They take what the defence gives them. And these guys love the game and love being in the gym. It’s not like work for them.”
This Vikes recruiting class is being compared with the historic Island-themed Vikes 1978-79 freshman class of Kelly Dukeshire out of Oak Bay and Greg Kazanowski and brother and two-time 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympian Gerald Kazanowski out of the Nanaimo District Secondary Islanders, who beat Dukeshire and the Bays in the 1978 sa国际传媒 high school championship game at the Pacific Coliseum. Dukeshire and the Kazanowski brothers won four U Sports national championships in their five seasons at UVic.
The 2024 recruiting class puts Burnatowski’s own stamp on the UVic program in his first season as Vikes bench boss, and provides a foundational succession pathway following the graduation after this season of generational UVic talent Diego Maffia, the defending U Sports MVP, who has the Vikes ranked No. 1 in the country.
“[Hinrichsen, Felt, Franklin] are great pieces for the next five years,” said Burnatowski.
