Basketball: OUA West Weekend Update

  • The Lakehead Thunderwolves sent a message to the rest of the OUA West (and possibly the nation as a whole) with their weekend sweep of the McMaster Marauders. At 9-1 on the season, in first place in a stacked OUA West division, with 4 wins over ranked opponents, and an RPI of 4, it's time to start giving coach Scott Morrison's Thunderwolves the credit they deserve. I watched much of last night's game streamed on SSN, and Lakehead had a 15-point lead before a Mac comeback in the fourth, but the T-Wolves showed they can seal the deal when they stole the game back. This is no longer a "fast start", this is a team that every opponent needs to be concerned with.

  • The No. 7 Windsor Lancers have impressed me this week with a big win over Western, and a dismantling of the Brock Badgers which saw the Badgers held to 24% shooting. I'm starting to come around on the validity of this team, but I still don't think they should be ranked ahead of Lakehead.

  • Guelph struggled against Waterloo on Saturday without Jay Mott in the lineup. With Mott gone indefinitely with a concussion, the Gryphons are going to need consistent scoring from Jonathon Moscatelli, Dan McCarthy and Adam Bering if they intend to make the playoffs.

  • Quite a day for Waterloo's Luke Kieswetter on Saturday. With a pregame moment of silence to remember his grandfather who passed away earlier this week, Kieswetter scored a career-high 21 points, on 8-of-11 shooting, to lead the Warriors to a win over Guelph. Clearly the best player on the floor for Waterloo on Saturday, Kieswetter gave his family a moment to remember. Don't look now, but Waterloo (6-4) has crept into third place in the OUA West.

  • Jessica Clemencon is proving that wine and cheese aren't the only French imports worth looking into, as she scored 57 points and hauled down 22 rebounds in two Windsor Lancers wins. Windsor is now 9-0 and ranked #2 in the country and show no signs of slowing down.

  • With their sweep at the hands of Lakehead on the weekend, the McMaster Marauders men's team currently sits fifth in their division with a 5-5 record, but still ranked No. 6 in the country in the National Rankings. Let's all remember that when I rant about overhauling the voting system.

  • Just a quick pop over to the OUA East for a moment to note that Carleton won two games this weekend by a combined margin of almost 100 points! This is the team that many were saying was the weakest Carleton team under Coach Dave Smart, remember?
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1 comment:

  1. Certainly, after losing three 5th year seniors to graduation,
    particularly the caliber of Turnbull, Saunders and Doornekamp, the Ravens were vulnerable.
    But don't mistake vulnerable for weak.
    Unlike the Brock Badgers, who had to start from ground zero after winning the 2008 national title, the
    Ravens had plenty left in the cupboard.
    And they added Willie Manigat and Tyson Hinz to the roster, both contributing significantly.
    Here's an interesting comparison between #1 UBC and Carleton.
    Both the Ravens and UBC played Saskatchewan, Alberta, Waterloo and Windsor.
    UBC played these 4 teams at home.
    Carleton played those teams at home as well, except Alberta, which they played in Victoria at the Vetrie tournament.
    The Ravens beat these four teams by a combined margin of
    98 points.
    An 18 point win over Saskatchewan was the closest game, a 33 point over nationally ranked Windsor the most lopsided.
    By contrast, UBC beat Waterloo by 6 and the other 3 by 7 points each for a cumulative margin of just 27 points.
    And while the Ravens have played Lakehead in Thunder Bay and six other games on the road, UBC has played just four so far.
    A two game series in Kamloops against TRU, one of which was won by 3 points. The other two games were in Winnipeg against the Wesmen and Manitoba.
    So really, the only teams the Thunderbirds have played away from the friendly confines of the War Memorial were against the three worst teams in CW.
    Waiting for UBC is a date with Calgary.

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