The nationally top-ranked University of Victoria Vikes men’s basketball team is dealing with a stunning season-altering situation. Injured star Diego Maffia, the all-time career team scoring leader and defending U Sports national MVP, is likely out for the season with a knee injury.
Maffia, a generational player for UVic out of Oak Bay Secondary, suffered what appeared to be a knee-on-knee collision last Friday night in the first game of a two-game sa国际传媒 West sweep of the visiting Trinity Western University Spartans on Ken and Kathy Shields Court in CARSA gym. Even though Maffia is on crutches, UVic was hoping for the best as it awaited initial medical imaging results Tuesday but the news is not promising.
“[The prognosis] is not great. Diego is out for the foreseeable future,” said Vikes head coach Murphy Burnatowski.
A further MRI scheduled for next week will reveal more, said Burnatowski.
“Diego is our leader and a big part of our success. We are all rallying behind Diego by taking care of business and getting the job done for him on the floor,” said Burnatowski.
“We have the depth and lots of guys with plenty of experience. Nothing changes in what their jobs are and what they have to do. It’s about putting people in the right positions.”
The Vikes indeed have many weapons and are 10-0 in sa国际传媒 West and 17-1 overall. Although it is a huge blow to lose the best university basketball player in the country, the Vikes have the overall talent to avoid the loss of Maffia falling into the category of devastating. That is now the storyline of their season.
The Vikes are in Prince George tonight to play the University of Northern sa国际传媒 Timberwolves (1-9 in conference). It is the start of the new reality for the Vikes, yet with or without Maffia, the scouting report presents a mismatch on paper. But Burnatowski, a former European pro and sa国际传媒 U-18 and senior national team player, is wary and warned his charges “not to get outworked.”
The UVic Vikes women’s basketball team goes into Prince George tonight at 5-5 in conference against the 3-7 Timberwolves, who have a significant Russian connection through head coach and former Soviet Union national team player Sergey Shchepotkin, in his 12th season on the bench in Prince George after playing 15 seasons of pro basketball in Russia and Lebanon.
Sveta Boykova has twice represented Russia at the World University Games and is top-five in sa国际传媒 West in rebounding. Fellow Muscovite and Timberwolves player, Viktoriia Filatova, is sixth in sa国际传媒 West scoring with a 15.8 points-per-game average.
UVic answers with Tana Pankratz averaging 12.8 points per game and Parksville’s Abigail Becker 12.7 points per game and a conference fourth-best 8.9 rebounds and Mimi Sigue with 10.1 points per game and 8.3 rebounds.
UVic will head down to Kamloops on Saturday for sa国际传媒 West games against the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack (6-6 in conference in men’s and 0-12 in women’s).
