With basketball season set to tip-off this weekend for the Trinity Western Spartans, both the men’s and women’s teams enter as relatively young squads.
The men’s squad, which went 10-12 last season, has just two fifth-year players and seven freshman coming in.
Head coach Scott Allen — who is stepping down at the end of the season — said he is not sure what to expect in 2014/15.
“It all depends,” he said.
“If (our returning players) can lead well and other guys stick with their roles, I think we can compete with anybody.”
The starting five is a veteran group — Justin Bakuteka, Denny McDonald, Kelvin Smith and Taylor Heinrichs are all back — with starting point guard Tyus Allen — the coach’s son — the lone exception. Tyus Allen is in his second season but missed most of last year after tearing up his knee.
After that, look for Jesse Jeffers to come off the bench and contribute quality minutes to the Spartans front court while a bevy of other youngsters and role players who will be relied upon to provide depth.
Height should not be an issue for the Spartans, especially with their recruiting class which boasts some height, including Langley’s Matt Hayashi, who is seven-foot-one.
Hayashi spent the past two years playing high school basketball in Oregon, helping his team to a pair of second-place finishes at the 5A state championships.
Three of the other recruits are 6-9, 6-8, and 6-7, respectively.
First-year Nick Tancon has shown well early on in preseason and has already proven that he can play at the CIS level. Look for the 6-foot-7 guard to become a key cog off the bench and regularly play upwards of 20 minutes per night.
Fellow first-years Josiah Allison, at point guard, and Vartan Tanielian, in a shooting guard role, will fill out the Spartans depth in the back court while third-year Matt Blackaby and second-year Peter Spangehl will be asked to play important defensive roles.
“It really looks fantastic for our future that way, with those kids,” Allen said.
“Now, can they handle the pressures and the length of a long season?
“The CIS, every weekend is a grind, you are traveling and playing two games in a row, it can be tough for young guys.
“If they can handle that and adjust to it, I think they will be really good.”
Early on in the preseason, the focus for the Scott Allen coached group was on defence. With that in mind, the Spartans held their opponents to an average of 71.9 points per game, which is a much improved mark compared to last year’s regular season average of 77.9 points against per game.
The key for the Spartans now will be to find their offensive rhythm, which, if the preseason is a sign of things to come, will largely come through transition and the use of their team speed and depth.
Through the preseason, the Spartans seemingly showed improvement every day and in every game. Despite their preseason record and having missed the playoffs last year, if TWU keeps along their recent trajectory, there’s reason to believe the high-end capabilities of this year’s Spartans could very well have them back in the post-season dance.
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The Spartans women’s team will be a young, energetic team that plays an uptempo style.
The team only has three players — Chantelle Martin, Laurissa Weigl and Kristin Ford — who are beyond their third year of eligibility which means there will be plenty of opportunity for new faces to make their mark.
“It would be really nice to fight for a playoff spot, that’s our goal going into the season. In order to do that, we need to be able to win some critical games in the first half of the season,” said coach Cheryl-Jean Paul.
Working against the team is the fact they are playing in a stacked division as UBC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Regina are all ranked in the top 10 in the country.
“Those are some big hitters there. It is really trying to figure out where are we in the spectrum of the really good teams,” Jean-Paul said.
“There are going to be some bumps and bruises along the way (but) you don’t know how good you are until you can beat the best.”
One of the players who could shoulder a bigger load with be forward Kayla Gordon, who was named to the Canada West all-rookie team a season ago. She will combine with Weigl and Ford to give TWU a dynamic front court.
The backcourt will see Martin play shooting guard while former Brookswood Bobcat Luca Schmidt will run the point once again.
And another former ’Cat, three-point shooter extraordinaire Jessie Brown, will be coming off the bench in her first season.
Brown, Schmidt and Natalie Carkner should combine to give the Spartans better success from shooting beyond the arc.
Tessa Ratzlaff and Jamie Andrews-Stobart are also expected to contribute off the bench.
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Both Spartan teams open the Canada West season on the road with a pair of matches against the Manitoba Bisons.
They both play their home openers the following weekend, Nov. 7 and 8 when they host Alberta at the Langley Events Centre.
TWU Athletics photo
Trinity Western Spartans Kayla Gordon faces a double team against the UBC Okanagan Heat.
