Canada will bring World Cup hoops hopes to St. John’s
Mile One Centre the site of two second-round world championship qualifying games in February
St. John’s Edge National Basketball League of Canada games won’t be the only hoops played at Mile One Centre in downtown St. John’s next winter.
Canada Basketball will be playing host to a pair of senior men’s world championship second-round qualifying games in St. John’s on Feb. 21 and 24.
Canada’s opposition for the St. John’s games hasn’t yet been determined, although it is known the Canadians’ secondround, six-team pool will also include the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Argentina, either the Virgin Islands or Bahamas, and either Chile or Colombia.
The qualification process is a leadup to the 2019 world basketball championship — officially the World Cup — in China. That event, which will involve 32 team, is an Olympic qualifier.
The Canadians’ six-game, first-round schedule is not yet done — they complete it by hosting the Dominican Republic Friday in Toronto and the Virgin Islands on Monday in Ottawa — but Canada already knows it will be advancing on the strength of its 3-1 record in its first four opening-round contests.
Three of four teams will advance from each opening-round pool. First-round results will carry over to the next round, which sees advancing teams from two pools joined together.
After a September start-up, the second-round schedule will continue with windows of games in November and February.
Canada’s senior men’s roster is currently bolstered by young NBA stars Cory Joseph, Khem Birch, Dillon Brooks, Kelly Olynyk, Dwight Powell and Duke University-bound R.J. Barrett.
However, those players won’t be in St. John’s in February as they will be playing with their respective NBA and NCAA teams.
That means Canada will be looking for other sources of talent. For example, Edge centre
Grandy Glaze played for the Canadian team in a pair of firstround qualifying games last fall.