Basketball: OUA West Wednesday Preview

This week's quick glance at the mid-week matchups in the OUA West for January 27th:

Women

Waterloo (3-11) at Western (10-4)

The Mustangs are riding Amanda Anderson's potential MVP season to a 10-4 record with what would appear to be a soft part of the schedule coming up against Waterloo on Wednesday, and Laurier on Saturday. I'm not sure that the Warriors will be able to compete with the Mustangs on Wednesday night, despite fine play of late from rookies Tori Lee, Erin Tilley, and Laura Bossers. Western is coming off of a loss to McMaster, and I see them winning this one by at least 15 points. Look out for Mustangs newcomer Jacklyn Selfe, a transfer from Troy University .

McMaster (9-5) at Guelph (2-12)

Don't look now, but with their win over Western on Saturday, the McMaster Marauders are now in 3rd place in the West. This team is strong, and with Taylor Smith (Not Taylor Swift, as she was listed last week at WLU) leading the team, Angela Orton's young Gryphons squad will be no match for them. Mac wins this by 18-20 points, despite a great matchup in the front court of Jasmine Douglas and Taylor Chiarot.

Laurier (7-7) at Brock (8-6)

Both of these teams are stuck in that log jam in the middle of the standings, fighting for playoff position. The Golden Hawks had a coming out party on Saturday for 4th year guard Mallory Kohlmeier, who scored 31 points vs. Waterloo, coming just 1 point shy of the team record set by WLU great Meghan McGrath. The Hawks have won 3 in a row, including a win over Mac, while the Badgers have lost 2 of 3, with their only win being a blowout of Waterloo. The Hawks will make it 4 in a row with a road win.

Men

Waterloo (8-6) at Western (7-7)

Let's call this matchup the Battle of Inconsistency. Both of these teams have shown flashes of brilliance, and threatened to challenge Windsor and Lakehead for one of those coveted first round playoff byes, but they have both looked horrible at times, as well. Waterloo has been struggling mightily on the road, save for a win at Windsor, and they'll need to come out strong in London if they want to be taken seriously again. Western will be looking to avenge a 29-point loss on Saturday to McMaster, and they'll need Ryan Barbeau, Garrett Olexiuk, and Andrew Wedemire to be that 1-2-3 punch they count on regularly. Too close to pick.

McMaster (8-6) at Guelph (5-9)

McMaster looked to shut up their detractors and critics (guilty as charged) with a near-30-point victory over the Western Mustangs on Saturday. As we've seen all season long with almost every team, big wins have been followed by big losses. Can a desperate Gryphons team that has been surging of late, pull off the upset here? I think they can, but I'm not sure they will. Keep this in mind, if Chris O' Rourke's Gryphons can win, then despite the result of the WLU-Brock game, they'll only be 2 points out of a potential playoff spot. And they DID beat Lakehead on the road last week...and nearly swept them.

Laurier (6-8) at Brock (6-8)

A key matchup for both teams fighting for the playoffs. The Hawks' Jesse McDonald just passed the 1000-point mark in his career, but I think he'll have his hands full with Badgers rookie Clinton Springer-Williams. Brock is tough to beat at home, and I think the Badgers will scrape this one in single digits.

And let's be honest...is there any true fan out there who isn't looking forward to this weekend's Lakehead-Windsor double header?