Rebuilt Thunderbirds hit No. 2
Ranking a surprise considering team has just two returning players
There is a cloud of mysterious mojo hanging thick in the air these days around the UBC Thunderbirds men’s basketball program.
Sure, program architect Kevin Hanson, the dean of Canada West coaches, has run out of fingers to count the number of seasons in which he has either tweaked or reloaded the roster of his perennial national-title-contending teams.
But if you grab a pen and pad and start scribbling out a checklist of firsts, the trends suggest that the 2012-13 Canada West season, which begins tonight and Saturday with a pair of games at the Langley Events Centre against the host Trinity Western Spartans, is destined to be a work in progress. Maybe. But maybe not. First, when was the last time Hanson had to replace over 50 pointsper-game in scoring lost due to graduation for two consecutive seasons? Answer: Never.
Only two players — forward Tommy Nixon and swingman Doug Plumb — remain from UBC’s 2010-11 roster, a two-season span in which Hanson has had to replace a combined 103.7 points-per-game in scoring. Last season it was 51.2, and this season 52.5.
Second, when was the last time the Birds went into a season knowing they would start a pure freshman at the all-important point guard position in its conference opener? Answer: Unknown.
“I’ve never have had to,” answers Hanson, a former UBC point guard, who is entering his 13th season as head coach.
Chances are, it has happened, but Hanson can’t recall it, and he came to the Point Grey campus to play as a college transfer from Langara in the mid-1980s.
Tonight, it’s looking more and more like Vancouver College grad Isaiah Solomon, or Edmonton’s Jordan Jensen-Whyte could buck a very long trend.
So what’s going on with the preseason prognostication?
When the CIS pre-season national rankings were issued Tuesday, UBC was perched at No. 2, trailing only the dynasty program at Ottawa’s Carleton University. The Ravens collected 43 of the 44 firstplace votes, opening at No. 1 for the seventh straight season, and the 10th in the last 11 years. UBC, a clear second, got the only other top vote. UBC was also picked first in the Canada West coaches poll.
The answer to such high expectations, if you can grab a chunk of anything as intangible as that cloud of mojo, seems to be chemistry.
If indeed the Birds finish the season as strong as the pre-season pundits predict, it will be because of the elusive traits that Hanson and every coach in the country try their best to identify through the recruiting process, and that is the process of chasing more than just talent.
So far, through a 6-1 pre-season, that mojo has revitalized Hanson.
“It’s my 22nd year of being a head coach and it’s been a long time since I have been this excited about going on to the court and going to practice with a group of kids that are driven and want to get better,” explained Hanson, who had previously spent nine seasons as head coach at Langara, where his teams won two CCAA national titles.
“The team chemistry is bringing something special to the environment. It’s carried us. There is a long way to go, but it’s been surprising how well we have played.”
Hanson credits the chemistry to a melding a few new credos.
One is a concerted effort to bring in more of the total student-athlete, something he says he has modelled after the success that has netted the women’s basketball and volleyball teams a combined eight CIS national titles over his UBC coaching tenure.
The other has been a concerted effort to carry his smallest roster ever, this season numbering just 11, down from as many as 16 in past seasons.
“Our team cohesiveness is far superior to what we’ve had in recent years,” Hanson says.
Nixon and Plumb are the known quantities, bringing back a combined 25.4 ppg of the team’s returning 31 ppg from last season. Newcomers Brylle Kamen (6-foot-7, San Jose State) and Jared Casey (6-11, San Francisco) are two NCAA Div. 1 transfers who will make a huge difference.
Former Brandon shooting guard O’Brian Wallace, who two seasons ago led the Bobcats in scoring as a sixth man (15.0 ppg), looks to have locked down the starting off-guard spot.
Second-year products David Wagner, a 6-foot-7 forward from South Kamloops, and 6-foot-5 shooter Geoff Pippus from Colorado, are also big parts of the returning mix.
And the trio of freshmen, including point guards Solomon and Jensen-Whyte, the brother of for mer UBC star guard Josh Whyte, and 6-foot-8 swingman Conor Morgan (Victoria-Mt. Douglas) have helped bring that level of chemistry to its current level.
With Kamen nursing a sore hamstring, and questionable for this weekend, and with Wagner coming on late in the pre-season, it’s anyone’s guess who starts against TWU. Perhaps it’s Solomon and Wallace in the back court with Plumb, Wagner and Casey up front? Hansen started eight different players in the pre-season. Now he’s willing to let the conference season speak for itself.
“I am a little surprised by it,” he says of the No. 2 national ranking.
“But it’s pre-season. What has really been surprising, though, is the how well our guys have jelled in such a short period of time.”