Former Trojan Bradbury Transfers to Memorial

Former FHCI star Will Bradbury ('08) has transferred from London's Fanshawe College (OCAA) and will suit up in the CIS next season, for the Memorial University Seahawks. 

Memorial University (St. John's, NF) plays in the Atlantic University Conference; they also feature another CWOSSA alum on their roster in SJAM grad Mike Helsby, who was named to the AUS all-rookie team this past season.

The Seahawks can definitely use Bradbury's talents, as they finished just 2-18 in conference play last year and 5-18 overall.  Bradbury averaged 10.9 PPG last year for Fanshawe, who finished the season as OCAA Silver Medalists.

FYI - no word as of yet on where fellow CWOSSA 'ballers from Fanshawe's roster (Jordan Dixon & Chyro Blackwood) will be suiting up next year.

Kotsopoulos Signs Pro Contact in Greece

Former University of Vermont women's basketball standout May Kotsopoulos, from Waterloo, Ontario, has signed a professional contract with DAS Ano Liosia, a Greek team in a northern suburb of Athens.

The 5-10 guard will play for DAS Ano Liosia beginning this fall. The team plays in the top division in Greece and the season runs from September to April. In 2009-10, DAS Ano Liosia posted a record of 14-10, placing sixth in the 13-team league.

Kotsopoulos was the first Vermont player to earn an invitation to a WNBA training camp and played in two of three exhibition games with the Connecticut Sun. She totalled 21 points in the two games before being waived by the team.

Kotsopoulos, the 2010 America East Fans' Choice Player of the Year, led the league in scoring at 17.1 points per game. An Academic All-American, she led Vermont to a 27-5 record and guided the Catamounts to their second straight America East Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.

In the NCAAs, the No. 10 Catamounts upset No. 7 Wisconsin in the first round to pick up the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory.

Kotsopoulos was a unanimous choice for America East All-Conference First Team honours and was named to the league's all-defensive team for the fourth straight season.

She ended her career ranked among the top five all-time leaders at Vermont in six categories: games played (2nd - 129), minutes played (2nd - 4,316), steals (3rd - 243), three-point field goals (3rd - 187), scoring (5th - 1,722), free throws (5th - 385).


Article Retrieved From: http://www.basketball.ca/en/hm/inside.php?sid=1&id=4226

Eagles Set to Fly in 2010?

In looking at my previous Ontario Summer Games post, you have to really like the chances of the St. Mary's Eagles' junior boys team going into the 2010-11 season.

Yes, I realize that we're still three-plus months away from the start of the boys' season, but let's have a quick look at the roster that St. Mary's is set to have on the floor for the coming season:

Firstly, the Eagles return three of their top 6 players (Tyler Hergott, Chris Clouthier, and Avery Sutton).  Those three guys actually combined for about half their points in the D8 final this past year, and should only improve going into next year. 

In addition, there may be a grade 9 or two from this year's midget team that may be able to contribute.  The 2010 SMHS midget squad won the D8 title for the first time since the league's resumption; Resurrection, who had won the previous three midget titles (2007-09), had a couple of midget graduates (and key contributors at that) on each of their past 2 CWOSSA championship teams.

Combine that with the addition of two grade nines listed below from the MDP squad (Tyrick Thompson and Mike Blumel), along with (I've heard) a few other quality club players, and you have a pretty decent looking squad.  Tyrick is the younger brother of Eagle star Alex Thompson, while Mike is the younger brother of former D8 all-star Phil Blumel.

Add in some quality coaching from Eagle bench boss BJ York, and St. Mary's would appear to be among the early "on paper" favourites in what would again appear to be shaping up as another wide-open year for junior basketball in the CWOSSA region.

St. Mary's main rival, the Resurrection Phoenix, will return one of the top PGs in CWOSSA (Adam Schneider), but he's their only returnee from their playing rotation.

The Eagles (2008) and Phoenix (2009 & 2010) have combined for the last three CWOSSA AAAA junior titles.

MDP Boys, Girls Capture Silvers at Ontario Summer Games

The Tri-Country Boys and Girls MDP teams (includes players from K-W, Guelph, Brantford and Cambridge) represented the CWOSSA region last week at the Ontario Summer Games in Sudbury.

The tournament featured 12 teams (representing various "regions" of Ontario), in a four-pool format hosted by local high schools in Sudbury as well as Laurentian University.

On the boys' side, the squad coached by Tom Schneider (Resurrection) and Marty Kendall (Guelph) finished 2-1 in pool play, with the following results:

W vs. Kawartha Region, 72-64 (High Scorer:  Tim Dawson, 11)

W vs. North Region, 76-66 (High Scorer:  Chuder Teny, 14)

L vs. Central East, 75-67 (High Scorer:  Chuder Teny, 13)

In the semifinals, the boys went on to defeat Niagara 71-59, backed by another Chuder Teny double-digit performance (14 points).  The win allowed the squad to advance to the championship game, where they lost a high-scoring affair to the Central West Region 98-81.

Members of the team (and high schools they attend) included:

Tim Dawson (St. John's College/Brantford)

Tyrick Thompson (Going into Grade 9 - St. Mary's HS/Kitchener)

Mike Blumel (Going into Grade 9 - St. Mary's HS/Kitchener)

Jesse Kendall (Bishop Macdonell CHS/Guelph)

Adam Schneider (Resurrection CSS/Kitchener)

Tyler Hergott (St. Mary's HS/Kitchener)

Chuder Teny (Grand River CI/Kitchener)

Garrett Large (Bluevale CI/Waterloo)
Zach McClenaghan (St. James CHS/Guelph)
Liam McCormack (St. James CHS/Guelph)
Andrew Folkerson (Going into Grade 9 - JF Ross CVI/Guelph)

A couple of other CWOSSA players actually suited up for different regions.  Two Tri-County alternates, Marcus Von Massow (Centre Wellington/Fergus) and Matt McKinnon (Going into Grade 9 - Kitchener CI) were allowed to play for the St. Lawrence Region.  Nice job there of giving those guys an opportunity to compete.  Von Massow, interestingly enough, was St. Lawrence's leading scorer (16 points) in a preliminary round loss to South Simcoe ---- a team that actually featured another CWOSSA player, JD West from Walkerton DHS.

On the girls side, the Tri-County squad went undefeated through pool play, which included the following wins:

W vs. Kawartha Region, 58-39 (High Scorer:  Jerika Baldin, 10 points)

W vs. North Region, 50-31 (High Scorer:  Erin Helsby, 8 points)

W vs. Central East Region, 64-57 (High Scorer:  Elizabeth McLellan, 12 points)

In the semifinals, Tri-County upended St. Clair County 57-46, backed by 15 points from Helsby. 

The Championship Game was a tight affair, and despite 16 points from Blair McNaughton, Tri-County ended up on the short end of a 70-62 decision to the Central West Region.

Tri-County's team roster included:

Brantford Area (5):  Bayley Vachon, Abby Heron, Abbey Johnston, Brianna Bavota, Jerika Baldin.

Guelph Area (2):  Jessica Morris, Ashley Benham

Cambridge (1):  Brooklyn Wright

Kitchener-Waterloo (4):  Elizabeth McLellan, Blair McNaughton, Erin Helsby, Natalie Bishop.

The girls' team was coached by Rick Baldin and Dale Bellaire.

Congratulations to both teams (pictured above) on your solid representation of CWOSSA basketball!

D10 Girls' Schedule Released

In case you're excited for some basketball news, the Junior and Senior Girls' basketball schedules have been uploaded onto the D10 Scorestop website.

The first slate of regular season games will play on Tuesday, September 21st. That day sees a big game to start the season with last year's AAAA CWOSSA representatives, JF Ross and Centennial, doing battle at CCVI (4:00pm).

Another potentially interesting game in September features a Lourdes squad that should be on the upswing doing battle at home against Centennial on Thursday, September 30th. I'm also intrigued by the start time posted on the website --- 12:30pm.

Early indications have Bishop Mac as the favourites to win their third consecutive D10 championship. JF Ross, last year's second place squad, should slip a bit with their top player Gemma Bullard lost to graduation. I actually look for Centennial and Guelph CVI to be the AAAA CWOSSA representatives this year (probably both finishing in the top 3), while young squads from JF Ross, Lourdes and St. James should be in the middle of the pack but with the ability to surprise some teams.

Oh, and don't sleep on Centre Wellington --- they will be in the mix with star grade 11 Jaime Janssen leading the way. They knocked off GCVI (5 over a 4) in last year's quarterfinals.

At any rate, we'll have a more in-depth preview come September, but it's never too early to start talking high school hoops.

Ross' Mohr to Suit Up for Football Gryphons

JF Ross' 6'1" guard/forward Joel Mohr will be suiting up for the University of Guelph Football Gryphons this coming fall.

Mohr was a key contributor to both of Ross' football and basketball teams.  He was a starter for the basketball squad and did his part to help the Royals qualify for the OFSAA AAAA championships this past season.  The well-rounded Mohr contributed 8 points in the OFSAA qualifying win over the rival Centennial Spartans.

On the football field, Mohr was a D10 all-star and according to Bill Brown (Director of Recruiting and Football Development and Defensive Backs coach for the Gryphons), says Mohr is “the top kid coming out of Guelph this year.” (Link to Guelph Tribune Article)

Younger Wood to Leave Bishop Mac for REDA

According to this article from yesterday's Guelph Tribune, it would appear as though Mitchell Wood will be following in the footsteps of his older brother --- quite literally.

The article made note of the fact that Mitchell Wood (my 2009-10 CWOSSA Junior MVP despite being only in grade 9) will be attending the REDA program in Hamilton next year with his older brother, Connor.

Although this is another big blow to the Bishop Mac basketball program, both of these young men have tremendous upside and should be able to further enhance their skills under the strenuous training regiment at the academy.

Furthermore, both Woods have their eyes on postsecondary basketball scholarships down the road.  The article also makes note that Connor (who is going into grade 12) has already gotten some looks from schools "both north and south of the border".

Good luck to both brothers going forward!  We'll keep our readers posted on any future developments as well, of course.

Bullard Powers England Through to Final 8

Guelph JF Ross grad Gemma Bullard pumped home 22 points as England completed their group games with a 75-68 victory over Estonia at the FIBA Europe U18 Division B Women's Basketball Championships.

Bullard had an impressive shooting performance, scoring 17 first half points on some hot shooting; she finished the game 3-for-4 on three-point field goals and 3-for-5 from inside the arc.  She also added 7 free throws on 13 attempts.

The win means that England finished 4-0 in group play; they also defeated Buglaria (67-52), Finland (51-47) and Scotland (69-35).  Finland advanced by finishing second in the pool, which means that England's victory against Finland will also carry over to the "qualifying" round for the final 8 ---- two groups of four.  England will take on Netherlands (tomorrow) and Belarus on Friday.

As for Bullard, she averaged 10.0 PPG through the first four games of the tournament.  Her stat lines:

vs. Bulgaria --- 9 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals

vs. Finland --- 1 point, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals

vs. Scotland --- 8 points, 4 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals

vs. Estonia --- 22 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 0 steals

Further details are available on the tournament's website.