Sports
NCAA brings game to Vancouver Showcase
As basketball fever heats up, Vancouver
Showcase 2018 promises to fuel the excitement.
For the first time in Canadian history, an
NCAA basketball tournament is being played north of the 49th with a couple of
familiar names on the local hoops scene heading up the organizing team.
Renowned Richmond High grad Ron Putzi and
Howard Kelsey, both former national team players, have put together Vancouver
Showcase Nov. 18 to 24 at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Vancouver Showcase features four men’s and
eight women’s US Division 1 college basketball teams.
The men’s tournament will feature the
Minnesota Golden Gophers, Santa Clara Broncos, Texas AM Aggies and
Washington Huskies.
After a berth in the 2017 NCAA tournament,
the Gophers are looking to bounce back under the guidance of coach Richard
Pitino. They improved 239 spots in the RPI ratings in 2016, the nations biggest
turnaround, and are led by 6’7 senior forward Jordan Murphy who averaged 16.8
points and 11.3 rebounds per game last season.
Steve Nash’s alma mater, Santa Clara is
looking to build on an 8-10 record and is led by senior guard KJ Feagin (17.5
ppg). Josip Vrankic, a 6’8 sophomore forward from Toronto is the lone Canadian
in the tournament. He’s one of three returning starters.
The Aggies are led by senior guard Admon
gilder who shot 82.1 per cent from the free throw line in his junior season.
Finally, the Huskies open the season ranked
among the top 25 in the nation and a pre-season favourite to win the Pac-12
Conference. Leading the way is 6’4 guard Jaylen Nowell (16 ppg).
The women’s tournament features a pair of
Bulldogs—Drake and Gonzaga (two-time defending West Coast Conference champions)—as
well as East Tennessee State Lady Buccaneers, Oregon State Beavers, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, South
Carolina Gamecocks, Western Kentucky Lady Hilltoppers, and defending NCAA
champion Notre Dame Fighting Irish (who will tip off tournament play against
Gonzaga Nov. 22 at noon).
Drake reached the NCAA championship last year
after a 22-game undefeated string. Extremely young, most of their key starters
are back including Becca Hittner who as a junior guard averaged 15.7 points per
game.
Gonzaga has been to nine straight NCAA
tournaments and are coming off 27-6 season. The club returns three starters
including Zykera Rice (11.7 ppg).
East Tennessee also had three returning
starters including guard Erica Hayes-Overton (14.5 ppg), while Oregon State—which
reached the Elite Eight last year for the second time in history—boasts four
returning starters including guard Mikayla Pivec.
Led by head coach Vivian Stringer, who is
just three wins shy of becoming one of a very few to win 1,000 games, Rutgers
has one Canadian on the team in 6’1 sophomore forward Maiel Gilles from
Montreal.
South Carolina is coached by three-time
Olympic gold medallist Dawn Staley, who is one of the best to ever play the
game. This year’s team features returning leading scorer Alexis Jackson at
forward.
Western Kentucky returns three starters
including C-USA freshman of the year forward Raneen Elgedaway. And Final Four
hero Arike Ogunbowale returns as one of four starters to the No. 1 ranked
Fighting Irish. She is also a pre-season AP All-American.