Basketball: OUA West Weekend Update

The OUA West certainly saw a number of big upsets over the past week, but while some people's eyes were opened to certain teams, when it was all said and done, the standings remained essentially the same.

  • Laurier's upset of Lakehead on Friday night was probably the biggest upset of the week on the men's side, and will undoubtedly re-ignite the 'Lakehead is only good at home' argument, but the Thunderwolves are still in first place, despite the loss. And with Windsor losing on Wednesday at home to Waterloo, I would still expect Lakehead to be ranked 1 spot ahead of Windsor (although both should drop) when the new rankings come out on Tuesday.

  • I've said since the beginning of the season that McMaster and Toronto were earning their national rankings based on reputational bias, and that they were over-rated. Now, 12 games into the season, both teams have a 6-6 record.

  • On the women's side, the McMaster Marauders sent a message to the rest of the league with their win over the No. 2 Windsor Lancers. With everyone focusing on Windsor and Western, this strong Marauder team is not to be forgotten.

  • Everyone has anointed Brock's Clinton Springer-Williams as OUA West Rookie of The Year already, and averaging 20 points per game, it's hard to argue with that, but I'm really impressed with WLU's Max Allin. Let's hold off on awarding the trophy just yet.

  • Andrew Wedemire put up big numbers in back-to-back games with 22 points and 5 rebounds vs. Guelph, and 27 points and 18 rebounds vs. Brock. Wedemire is better and more athletic than I've ever seen him, and is a major force around the basket.

  • After a huge win on the road at Windsor on Wednesday, the Waterloo Warriors came back to Earth on Saturday, losing to the Guelph Gryphons is a game that saw them score only one field goal in the third quarter. Jay Mott is back in the lineup, but shot poorly. Luckily for the Gryphons, they got big games from Dan McCarthy and Adam Bering. Nick Walters is playing increased minutes off of the bench for the Gryphons, and showing Gryphons coach Chris O'Rourke that he should be spending more time on the court. It was the Gryphons' first win at home this season.
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8 comments:

  1. With all due respect to Max Allin, who is a fine player, the OUA West ROY
    will be Clinton Springer-williams no if ands or buts.
    CSW is the third leading scorer in the entire OUA and is #1 in the OUA West...as a freshman.
    Only veterans Boris Bakovic of Ryerson and Queen's Mitch Leger have had better PPG averages.
    The only other rookie in the top 20 scoring in the OUA is Carleton's Tyson Hinz at #19 with a 14.00 PPG average.
    He'll be the OUA East nominee.
    It's a good thing OUA West games are not on Pro Line because you probably lose more often than not.
    For example, Waterloo beats Windsor at the St. Denis Center, where the Lancers
    are known to be very tough, but then lose days later to last place Guelph.
    Toronto and McMaster got their early rankings not because of "reputational bias".
    Both teams piled up non conference wins early, some against teams that were highly regarded.
    McMaster hammered Ottawa by 23 at the McGill tournament and destroyed X 88-54 in Hamilton in October.
    The Marauders won their first 9 CIS games before losing to Toronto Nov 13.
    Since then, Mac has been just 4-6 and tumbled out of the rankings.
    Similarly, Toronto started the season hot out of the gate winning
    8 out their first 10 games, including wins over Cpe Breton and Ottawa.
    But they've slumped badly since losing to Lakehead.
    Toronto has lost five out of its last 9 games and is headed out of the top 10.
    Look for Dalhousie and Toronto to exit the top 10 and St. Mary's and SFU to enter.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So the best rookie or the best player, is the person with the hightest ppg. Should be pretty easy to select the winner at the end.

    Given the same logic, we should scrap the nationals and just award the title to the team with the highest ppg.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous, I'd love for you to attach your names to your posts, or email me at seanfurfaro@gmail.com, because you seem to like to argue every point I make...and I like to argue. So let's chat, shall we? :)

    I didn't say that Max Allin should be the ROY, I just said that he has impressed me at the halfway point of the season, and I'm never a fan of awarding the award based on hype (Brad Rootes, Sarah Zagorski.) I would give CSW the award too as of right now, I'm just trying to point out another good young player.

    Mac and UT deserved spots in the Top Ten early, but they STAYED, and stayed too high based on reputational bias. Period.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Contankerous1/17/2010 11:41 pm

    Ok Sean, I gave myself a name..an appropriate one, I think.
    First, I didn't say you said Max Allin should be ROY.
    I saw him play in Ottawa and while his team didn't fare particularly well, he looked good.
    What I said was Clinton Springer-williams was leading the OUA West in scoring as a freshman, which is pretty significant.
    Last year's ROY was his team mate Didi Mukendi and I think Clinton is more dominant than he was.
    As far as Toronto and Mac are concerned, I won't disagree they hung around a little too long.
    Dalhousie, for that matter, has clearly worn out their welcome, too.
    Finally, I wouldn't say I argue every point you make, although it might seem that way.
    I just have a different take on some things, that's all.
    And really, if I am arguing, at least that means I'm reading your stuff, which is the important thing, right?
    Be seeing you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, I would indeed agree that's an appropriate name. :)

    Perhaps I wasn't coming across as I intended in my last comment. I don't mean 'argue' as a negative, I think that discourse and discussion and disagreement are all healthy. I just wanted to be able to respond directly.

    Looking forward to more of your comments in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I saw CSW play up at Laurentian in the Fall and he is a good player but when his team was down he became invisible.Brock lost to LU that day. I also was wondering how long it would take Mac to come down to earth and now the parity is starting to show in the OU West

    ReplyDelete
  7. While Maxwell Allin is not leading the the OUA in scoring he is producing a very respectable 11 ppg (prior to this past week). He is also the 7th best rebounder in the OUA with around 7 rpg. Both, Maxwell and Clinton Springer-Williams are playing for sub .500 teams. It is fine to argue about a players quality based on their stats but the one that jumps out to me is their teams' win/loss records. I'll be looking for the player who makes the biggest difference in W/L column for the remainder of the season. Who ever that is would be my ROY.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Quite often players with impressive per game average stats play on mediocre or even poor teams.
    Kiraan Posey, Boris Bakovic and Erfan Najaspour of Winnipeg are examples of outstanding players
    playing for less than average teams.
    I think that is no coincidence.
    Because those teams have few other "go to" options, those players by necessity become scoring machines.
    These players rack up gaudy offensive statistics, but ultimately,
    their play has limited impact on their respective teams success.
    That is why these players are generally passed over for POY consideration, even if they are truly deserving.

    ReplyDelete