The easiest prediction to make heading into the sa国际传媒 West men’s basketball season is that the University of Victoria Vikes would top the preseason coaches poll, which they have easily done, heading into tonight’s season opener against the conference sixth-ranked Calgary Dinos on Ken and Kathy Shields Court in CARSA gym.
After all, this is a Vikes team that during the preseason played NCAA Sweet Sixteen team Xavier to the wire and easily dispatched Canadian national-championship dynasty program Carleton 85-58. The Vikes went 6-2 in the preseason beating all Canadian teams, including Carleton, with the only losses coming against 2023 NCAA tournament teams Xavier and Penn State.
It is evident this season for the Vikes will be all about managing expectations and keeping the hype in perspective. UVic head coach Craig Beaucamp said he told his charges to be in the moment.
“We need to focus on being present and looking ahead,” he said.
“Focus on the process. Focus on the next play.”
In other words, don’t focus on March and all the talk of a potential ninth national title in team history, but first since 1997, when Eric Hinrichsen patrolled the old McKinnon Gym floor en route to representing sa国际传媒 in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Not to mention making up for the loss in the national championship semifinals last season after going in as the top seed.
The Vikes are still amazingly young and don’t have any seniors and will be paced by spectacular fourth-year shooting-guard and defending sa国际传媒 West MVP Diego Maffia, who led the country in scoring last season with a 24.9 points-per-game average.
Freshman Griffin Arnatt, like Maffia also out of the Oak Bay Bays, is showing signs of being an immediate impact addition.
“[Arnatt] is already one of our best defenders,” said Beaucamp.
The return from a year-off of another brick-wall stopper, Aaron Tesfagiorgis, is yet another boon to an already loaded roster.
“We know we can manufacture points, and put up 85 to 90 consistently, but we’ve also really built on the defensive side,” said Beaucamp, who was assistant coach with sa国际传媒 at the 2023 FIBA U-19 World Cup in Hungary over the summer.
The Vikes are largely Island-grown with Maffia and Arnatt out of Oak Bay, Ethan Boag and Izzy Helman from the Claremont Spartans, Sergio Pereira out of the Shawnigan Lake School Stags and Shayden Smid from the Cowichan Secondary Thunderbirds. The explosive Renoldo Robinson and talented Elias Ralph and Tesfagiorgis add potency from off the Island.
Meanwhile, the UVic women are ranked seventh in the sa国际传媒 West preseason coaches poll, with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies No. 1 and tonight’s opening opponent Calgary No. 3.
Ashlyn Day, a dominant Vikes performer and conference leading scorer, has graduated and leaves big running shoes to fill.
“That has shifted things a lot and our returnees will be stepping into bigger leadership roles,” said UVic head coach Carrie Watts.
They include veterans Abigail Becker out of the Ballenas Secondary Whalers in Parksville and Sierra Reisig out of Claremont with rookie Makena Anderson from St. Michaels University School expected to contribute right away. Third-year player Tana Pankratz will start the season on the injury list but is expected to return to be a key performer.
“We are young, so taking care of the ball will be of prime importance,” said Watts, who was performance analyst for the sa国际传媒 U-23 team in the Global Jam tournament over the summer in Toronto.
The Vikes-Dinos women’s games are at 6 p.m. tonight and 5 p.m. Saturday and the men’s games at 8 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, at CARSA gym.
