Alumni: McIntyre, MacDonald Named 2nd Team OUA West All-Stars

Two CWOSSA alums were among the OUA basketball award winners recently announced.

Cam McIntyre (KCI '06) and Jesse MacDonald (Assumption '05) were named to the OUA West 2nd All-Star team.

The complete list of award recipients (thanks to oua.ca) is below:


2010 OUA WEST MEN'S BASKETBALL AWARD WINNERS
West Player of the Year: Keenan Jeppesen (McMaster)
West Rookie of the Year: Clinton Springer-Williams (Brock)
West Defensive Player of the Year: Greg Carter (Lakehead)
West Ken Shields Award: Jamie Searle (Lakehead)
West Coach of the Year: Scott Morrison (Lakehead)

WEST FIRST-TEAM ALL-STARS
Keenan Jeppesen (Stoney Creek, Ont.) - McMaster
Isaac Kuon (Mississauga, Ont.) - Windsor
Jamie Searle (Belleville, Ont.) - Lakehead
Clinton Springer-Williams (London, Ont.) - Brock
Andrew Wedemire (Sarnia, Ont.) - Western

WEST SECOND-TEAM ALL-STARS
Ryan Barbeau (Belleville, Ont.) - Western
Nigel Johnson-Tyghter (Brampton, Ont.) - Windsor
Jesse MacDonald (Brantford, Ont.) - Laurier
Cam McIntyre (Kitchener, Ont.) - Waterloo*
Jay Mott (Burlington, Ont.) - Guelph
Yoosrie Salhia (Toronto) - Lakehead*

*denotes tie

WEST ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Maxwell Allin (Chatham, Ont.) - Laurier
Josh Collins (Thornhill, Ont.) - Windsor
Victor Raso (Hamilton, Ont.) - McMaster
Clinton Springer-Williams (London, Ont.) - Brock
Ryan Thompson (Oakville, Ont.) - Lakehead

Waterford Wolves Seeded 7th at "A" OFSAA

The Waterford Wolves (30-3 overall this season) will enter the OFSAA "A" championships as the #7 seed, a slight improvement from last year's ranking.

The Wolves will play #13 Holy Trinity CSS of Cornwall in the first round.

Their second round opponent will be the winner or loser of an all-French school first round matchup --- either #4 E-S Lajeunesse (Windsor) or #10 E-S Algonquin (North Bay).

The Top Three Seeds at "A" OFSAA are:

1. Ashbury College (Ottawa)

2. Ridley College (St. Catharines)

3. Arthur Voaden SS (St. Thomas)

AA OFSAA Seeding: Falcons #13, Will Play Timmins First Round

The Owen Sound CVI Falcons will be seeded lucky number 13 for the OFSAA "AA" basketball championships starting Monday in Windsor.

OSCVI will play #7 Timmins H & VS in their opening round game on Monday (6:40pm @ Forster SS).

Here's the breakdown of the AA Seeding:

1. St. Thomas Aquinas SS (Oakville)

2. St. Francis SS (St. Catharines)

3. Parkside SS (Dundas)

4. Herman SS (Windsor)

5. George Harvey CI (Toronto)

6. St. Basil SS (Sault Ste. Marie)

7. Timmins H & VS

8. Montcalm SS (London)

9. Lester B. Pearson (Gloucester)

10. JL Forster (Windsor)

11. Thomas A. Stewart SS (Peterborough)

12. GL Roberts Collegiate (Oshawa)

13. Owen Sound CVI

14. Smiths Falls DSS

15. Patrick Fogarty HS (Orillia)

16. Archbishop Romero CHS (Toronto)

17. Loyalist College (Kingston)

18. Sir Winston Churchill SS (Thunder Bay)

D8 vs. D10 All-Star Game Details

D8 vs D10 All-Star Games

6pm (Junior Game) & 8pm (Senior Game)

Wednesday, March 24th 2010

Mitchell Athletics Centre - University of Guelph

Bluevale Seeded 11th, JF Ross 17th Seed at AAAA OFSAA

The Bluevale Collegiate Knights, making their first ever boys OFSAA appearance in school history, have earned a respectable #11 seed at this year's AAAA championship. The Knights were slotted in behind HB Beal of London, but ahead of St. Thomas More out of Hamilton.

The Knights will take on #2 seed Mother Teresa of Scarborough in their first round game.

Meanwhile, JF Ross will start out of the #17 seed ---- which isn't all bad. If they lose their first round game to #6 Toronto Oakwood, they will play a winnable game against (probably) #16 St. Matthew of Ottawa.

Here's the complete seeding for the AAAA tournament:
1. Pickering HS (Ajax)
2. Mother Teresa SS (Scarborough)
3. J. Clarke Richardson CI (Ajax)
4. Eastern HS of Commerce (Toronto)
5. Vaughan SS (Thornhill)
6. Oakwood CI (Toronto)
7. St. Marguerite D'Youville (Brampton)
8. St. Edmund Campion (Brampton)
9. St. Michael's College (Toronto)
10. HB Beal SS (London)
11. Bluevale Collegiate (Waterloo)
12. St. Thomas More (Hamilton)
13. St. Anne SS (Tecumseh)
14. Notre Dame College (Welland)
15. Pope John Paul II SS (Scarborough)
16. St. Matthew HS (Orleans)
17. John F. Ross C & VI (Guelph)
18. Nantyr Shores SS (Innisfil)

North Park Seeded #7 at "AAA" OFSAA

The North Park Trojans of Brantford have been given the #7 seed for next week's OFSAA AAA championships in Kingston.

The Field Has Been Seeded As Follows:

1. Oakville Loyola CSS (Oakville)

2. Anderson CVI (Whitby)

3. Martingrove CI (Etobicoke)
4. Jarvis CI (Toronto)

5. Orchard Park SS (Stoney Creek)

6. Dr. John Denison SS (Newmarket)

7. North Park CVS (Brantford)

8. Sir Robert Borden SS (Ottawa)

9. Riverside SS (Windsor)

10. Frontenac SS (Kingston)

11. Oakridge SS (London)
12. West Ferris SS (North Bay)

13. St. Theresa's SS (Midland)

14. St. Joseph's SS (Cornwall)

15. Senator O'Connor College School (Toronto)

16. IE Weldon SS (Lindsay)

Bryson Johnson & Bucknell on Cable TV Tonight!

A chance to see St. David CSS '09 grad Bryson Johnson in action tonight from the comfort of your living room.

Johnson's Bucknell Bison (#2 in Patriot League with a 9-5 record) will be playing #7 Holy Cross (5-9 Patriot League) live tonight on the CBS College Sports Network.

For those of you that are like me with Rogers as your television provider, it's Channel 416.

Johnson has had a very successful freshman campaign down in Pennsylvania, starting 11 of Bucknell's last 13 games (he's made appearances in all 30 Bucknell games - 23.4 minutes a contest) while averaging 9.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.

For his efforts, he was named to the Patriot League "All-Rookie" team on March 1st:

Patriot League All-Rookie Team 2009-2010
Bryson Johnson, Bucknell G Fr. 6’1 180 Pictou, Nova Scotia/St. David (Ontario)
Gabe Knutson, Lehigh F Fr. 6’8 210 Urbandale, Iowa/Waukee
CJ McCollum, Lehigh G Fr. 6’3 165 Canton, Ohio/Glen Oak
Mike Muscala, Bucknell F/C Fr. 6’10 225 Roseville, Minn./Roseville
Mitch Rolls, Colgate G Fr. 6’0 170 Coffeyville, Kan./Maine Central
Joe Willman, Bucknell F Fr. 6’6 200 Monmouth, N.J./Monmouth Regional

cwossabasketball.com's Top 15 of the Last Decade (*) - #7 Boyd Vassell, Eastwood

One of the best pure scorers that we've seen around here in the last few years ---- Vassell could definitely light up the scoreboard.

Sometimes, a picture (or in this case, video) is worth a thousand words. And thanks to YouTube, we have a couple highlights from Boyd's HS career at Eastwood.

He dropped 52 (which may have been 55 as the scorekeepers gave one of his 3s to a guy that didn't play) points against Cameron Heights in a game during the 2008-09 season. YouTube has the highlights:



Here's another clip of Vassell winning a semifinal game at the buzzer in the Resurrection Senior Boys' Tournament:



Vassell is now suiting up for Iowa Central Community College (NJCAA) where he averaged 4.0 PPG, 0.8 AST and 0.3 REB as of February 25th. He's shooting a remarkable 90% from the free throw line.

Updated List
#15 - Bobby Colorado (GRCI) & Ian Harriette (SBCSS)
#14 - Nate Samuel (ACS)
#13 - Dave Burnett (RMC)
#12 - Jordan Dixon (RCSS)
#11 - Jesse MacDonald (ACS)
#10 - Borko Popic (KCI)
#9 - Chyro Blackwood (RCSS)
#8 - Zach Nagtzaam (SSS)
#7 - Boyd Vassell (ECI)

cwossabasketball.com's Top 15 of the Last Decade (*) - #8 Zach Nagtzaam, SSS

Big Zach Nagtzaam, a near seven-footer from Ayr, is one of only 2 people on this list with the one thing that a lot of players covet ---- an OFSAA gold medal.

In 2007, Nagtzaam led the Sabres to WCSSAA, CWOSSA "AAA" and OFSAA "AAA" titles --- the latter being a thrilling 39-37 victory over Windsor's Catholic Central HS.

Nagtzaam averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds during the 06-07 campaign and was named the Mike Moser award winner as WCSSAA MVP.

In addition, he was a two-year member of the Canadian Junior Team and was named the top Ontario post player during the 2007 All-Canada game.

He accepted a full scholarship to Ohio University, where he was redshirted during the 07-08 campaign. He saw 19 minutes (10 games) during the 08-09 season where he again faced injury issues (he scored his first and only NCAA basket on the road at Eastern Illinois).

By early spring of last year, knee issues had caught up with Zach, and he was basically forced to end his basketball career. However, to my knowledge, he is still involved with the basketball program and is finishing his degree down south.

cwossabasketball.com's Top 15 of the Last Decade (*) - #9 Chyro Blackwood, RCSS

Chyro Blackwood was a terrific talent that kept some otherwise average Resurrection teams competitive during the mid 2000s.

Blackwood was widely considered one of the top dunkers around during his time, but also developed a solid outside shot during his career.

A memorable game was Chyro's effort during the 2005 CWOSSA "AAAA" tournament at Resurrection where he nearly helped Resurrection (the #8 seed) to an upset win over Jaan Montgomery, Gavin Horne and the #1 WCI Vikings ---- the Phoenix ended up falling by single digits in that one.

After high school, Chyro spent a year at Niagara College before ending up over at Fanshawe College in London this year. He only appeared in 7 games, but scored 15.0 PPG during that time. In an exhibition game at Laurier (a close 73-69 loss), Blackwood scored 12 points (3-of-4 from three) and added 5 rebounds.

List of OFSAA "AA" Qualifiers

Thus far:

Thomas A. Stewart SS (Peterborough)
Owen Sound CVI (Owen Sound)
Smith Falls DHS (Smith Falls)
Loyalist College (Kingston)
Patrick Fogarty (Orillia)
Lester B. Pearson (Gloucester)
Timmins H & VS (Timmins)
St. Basils (Sault Ste Marie)
Sir Winston Churchill HS (Thunder Bay)
St. Francis SS (St. Catharines)
Parkside CI (Dundas)
Herman SS (Windsor)
Forster SS (Windsor) - Host
George Harvey CI (Toronto)
Montcalm CI (London)
GL Roberts CI (Oshawa)

+2 More:
CISAA vs. TDCAA playoff
GHAC vs. ROPSSAA playoff

CWOSSA Tournament Connections:
Kingston Loyalist Participated in the East Side Mario's Tournament in Guelph (L 41-76 to SJAM, L 66-70 to CHCI, W 54-33 vs Assumption)

St. Basil (SSM) participated in a couple of local tournaments, most notably the St. Benedict's tournament in Cambridge. They defeated Forest Heights (by 18) and lost to Bluevale by 5 in overtime.

Peterborough TASS defeated Forest Heights and a shorthanded Orchard Park team at the WCI/BCI shootout before falling to the host Knights 66-36 in a semifinal game.

List of OFSAA "AAAA" Qualifiers

I think we all know the 2 CWOSSA reps, but I've bolded them anyways......

Eastern Commerce (Toronto)
Oakwood (Toronto)
Mother Teresa (Scarborough)
Pope John Paul II (Toronto)
Pickering
J. Clarke Richardson (Ajax)
HB Beal (London)
Vaughan
JF Ross (Guelph)
Bluevale (Waterloo)
St. Matthew's (Ottawa)
St. Thomas More (Hamilton)
D'Youville (Brampton)
Campion (Brampton)
Nantyr Shores (Innisfil)
St. Michael's (Toronto)
Notre Dame (Welland)
SWOSSA Rep (TBD): St. Anne's (Tecumseh) vs. St. Christopher (Sarnia)

Stay Tuned.....

We'll be doing a lot of "CWOSSA post-season" stuff over the next little while here which includes:

-Keeping tabs on our Senior OFSAA Qualifiers (Bluevale, JF Ross, North Park, OSCVI, and Waterford).....obviously!

-Continuing with our "Top CWOSSA Players" and other Features

-Providing a Recruiting Update

-And more.....

CWOSSA Power Rankings - 2009-2010 (Final Ranking)

Junior
1. Bishop Macdonell (Guelph/D10) --- CWOSSA "AA" & D10 Champions
2. Centre Dufferin (Shelburne/D4) --- CWOSSA "AAA" & D4 Champions
3. Resurrection CSS (Kitchener/D8) --- CWOSSA "AAAA" & D8 Champions
4. Waterloo CI (Waterloo/WCSSAA) --- WCSSAA Champions; CWOSSA Finalists
5. Jacob Hespeler (Cambridge/WCSSAA) --- WCSSAA Quarterfinalist; CWOSSA "AAA" Finalist
6. Grand River (Kitchener/WCSSAA) --- WCSSAA Runner Up
T7. Huron Heights (Kitchener/WCSSAA) --- WCSSAA & CWOSSA "AAA" Semifinalist
T7. Cameron Heights (Kitchener/WCSSAA) --- WCSSAA Semifinalist
T9. St. John's (Brantford/D5) --- D5 Champions, CWOSSA "AAAA" Semifinalists
T9. Forest Heights (Kitchener/WCSSAA) --- WCSSAA Quarterfinalists
T11. JF Ross (Guelph/D10) --- D10 Semifinalists
T11. Centennial (Guelph/D10) --- D10 Finalists
T11. Lourdes (Guelph/D10) --- D10 Semifinalists
T11. St. Mary's (Kitchener/D8) --- D8 Finalists

Senior
1. Bluevale CI (Waterloo/WCSSAA) --- WCSSAA & CWOSSA "AAAA" Champions
2. North Park CVS (Brantford/D5) --- D5 & CWOSSA "AAA" Champions
3. JF Ross CVI (Guelph/D10) --- D10 Champions; CWOSSA "AAAA" Finalists
4. Resurrection CSS (Kitchener/D8) --- D8 Champions
5. Centennial CVI (Guelph/D10) --- D10 Finalists; CWOSSA "AAAA" Semifinalists
6. SJAM (Waterloo/WCSSAA) --- WCSSAA Finalists; CWOSSA "AAAA" Semifinalists
7. St. Mary's (Kitchener/D8) --- D8 Finalists
8. Kitchener CI (Kitchener/WCSSAA) --- WCSSAA Semifinalists; CWOSSA "AAA" Finalists
9. Cameron Heights (Kitchener/WCSSAA) --- WCSSAA Semifinalists
T10. Owen Sound CVI (Owen Sound/BAA) --- BAA & CWOSSA "AA" Champions
T10. St. John's (Brantford/D5) --- D5 Finalists

CWOSSA "AAAA" All-Star Teams, News, Notes

Here's a few "items of note" from the CWOSSA "AAAA" basketball tournament at RCSS & SMHS this past weekend......

1. All-Star Teams

If I had to announce tournament all-stars, here they are......

(Note: First-Team All-Stars from Semifinalist teams; all teams have minimum one representative)

SENIOR

Co-MVPs: Andrew Beney & Stefan Cvrkalj (Bluevale)

First Team All-Stars

Andrew Beney, BCI (Co-MVP) --- Grade 12/5th Year, 6'6" C

Stefan Cvrkalj, BCI (Co-MVP) --- Grade 12, 6'4" G

Ryan Cook, JF Ross --- Grade 12/5th Year, 6'4" G

Shamlo Saeed, JF Ross --- Grade 11, 5'10" G

Rob House, Centennial --- Grade 12/5th Year, 6'5" F

Jake Robinet, SJAM --- Grade 12/5th Year, 6'7" F

Second Team All-Stars

Tyler Schneider, Resurrection --- Grade 11, 6'2" G

Jay Francis, Centennial --- Grade 12/5th Year, 6'3" G/F

Edem Ame, SJAM --- Grade 11, 6'0" G

JR Gallarza, St. John's --- Grade 12, 6'3" F

John Moi, Resurrection --- Grade 11, 5'9" G

JUNIOR

MVP: Alphonso Ellis, Resurrection

First Team All-Stars

Alphonso Ellis, Resurrection --- Grade 10, 5'10" G

Cory Kenning, Resurrection --- Grade 10, 6'4" C

Jacob Ranton, Waterloo CI --- Grade 10, 6'3" G/F

Zach Totzke, Waterloo CI --- Grade 10, 5'11" G

Filip Cvrkalj, Grand River --- Grade 10, 6'3" G/F

Second Team All-Stars

Mike Friesen, JF Ross --- Grade 10, 6'2" G/F

Tyler Van Leeuwen, St. John's --- Grade 10, 5'7" G

Malcolm Piazza, Waterloo CI --- Grade 10, 6'6" C

Tyler Bartley, Resurrection --- Grade 10, 6'1" F

Erik Sterne, Centennial --- Grade 10, 6'0" G

2. Youngsters Step Up

Both junior finalists (WCI & Resurrection) had a couple of grade nine guards at the helm. Rez's Adam Schneider and WCI's Adam Anagnostopoulos could both play senior next year while in grade 10. WCI hasn't gone that route before, but they may wish to move up Anagnostopoulos up early with the rest of their starting 5 from this year's club.

The Rez seniors, with 8 players just in grade 11 this year, have significant backcourt depth and are less likely to bring Schneider up early. He looked extremely poised out there this past weekend, and actually played all 32 minutes of the championship game (also played all 32 minutes in the pool game against JF Ross, and 30 minutes against Grand River).

Still on the subject of grade nines, Grand River's grade 9 guard Chuder Teny was a solid performer this year for the Rens. Look out for him next year as GRCI's star attraction.

Here's a quick breakdown of the number of returning grade nines among junior teams, with top potential returnee listed (if significant contributor this year):

Resurrection (4) - Adam Schneider

Waterloo CI (5) - Adam Anagnostopoulos

Centennial (5)

St. John's (7)

Grand River (6) - Chuder Teny

JF Ross (6) - Alex Turvey/Nolan Ireland

3. Royals Keep Trend Alive

With the JF Ross Royals qualifying for OFSAA, the trend of schools that win junior "AAAA" championships qualifying for OFSAA within 3 years (i.e. those juniors as 5th years) continues.

Here's a look (excluding this year) at recent junior champs, with OFSAA qualification year(s):

2002 - Waterloo CI (OFSAA: 2004, 2005)

2003 - Kitchener CI (OFSAA: 2004, 2005, 2006)

2004 - Kitchener CI (OFSAA: 2005, 2006)

2005 - Forest Heights CI (OFSAA: 2008)

2006 - Centennial CVI (OFSAA: 2007, 2008, 2009)

2007 - JF Ross (OFSAA: 2010)

2008 - St. Mary's HS (TBD)

2009 - Resurrection CSS (TBD)

4. Tiebreaker Turmoil

Since switching to the current championship pool format in 2007, the schedule has not been without its share of critics.

WCSSAA #1 and D10 #1 have to this point received the benefit of the "first and last" games, while the D5 and D8 champs play the "back to back" games --- although D8 gets D10 #2 on a back-to-back and D5 gets WCSSAA #2 on a back-to-back.

As for all teams playing "back to back" --- in senior they went 0-for-4 on Friday.

.....this leads into another issue: current tiebreak format. All 6 senior teams finished 1-1 in pool play. The current tiebreak format eliminates the worst plus minus, while the "other two" move on.

Perhaps this could be amended to the current "WCSSAA tiebreak" format (i.e. find the "first place team" and then break remaining ties head-to-head). So, take the "best" plus minus and then break the 2nd/3rd place tie on the head-to-head. In this manner, the team(s) playing the quick turnarounds are not penalized for their tired legs (Ross ran away from St. John's in the second half).

Two things are sure: (1) The best team in senior won and (2) there's not one method that's going to make everyone happy.

5. A Look to the Future

How I would "power rank" this year's 6 CWOSSA participants heading into next year:

1. JF Ross

2. Resurrection

3. Bluevale/SJAM

4. Bluevale/SJAM

5. Centennial/St. John's

6. Centennial/St. John's

.....Ross & Rez each have 8 returning grade 11s and some good juniors moving up to bolster the bench. Bluevale and SJAM will lose a couple key guys (Cvrkalj may stay but Andrew Beney leaves for BCI; Robinet for SJAM) while CCVI will have 3 key 5th years graduate (Rob House/Adrian Varilla/Jay Francis).

CWOSSA possibles for Heinbuch 2010:

WCSSAA: 3 of: Cameron Heights, SJAM, Bluevale, Southwood, Grand River

D8: Resurrection and/or St. Mary's (may be a year for 2 D8 teams)

D10: JF Ross

D5: North Park or St. John's