CWOSSA "AAA": Junior & Senior Previews & Picks!

The CWOSSA "AAA" tournament, which is set to go tomorrow at North Park Collegiate in Brantford, provides us with a couple of interesting brackets this year.

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised to see any one of 3 or 4 teams (maybe even 5) take the title in either the junior or senior ranks.  Furthermore, a couple of the lower seeds may be able to make some noise, especially if they are overlooked.

Junior

St. James has been awarded the #1 seeding in the junior ranks, as I expected with a strong league (10-4) and tournament resume.  Quinn Feeney, Joey Hasson and Ryan Willock are the players to keep an eye on this weekend, and all will need big performances.  The Lions, who can really get after teams with their zone, are stout defensively in only giving up 42.3 PPG in the highly competitive D10 league this past season.

St. David of Waterloo is the #2 seed, so they'll be on the flip side of where they were last year in this tournament, when they were seeded 7th.  Obviously, a big reason for that massive shift has been a youth injection at SDCSS with grade nines Dashaun Lalor, George Dumitru and James McBride contributing the bulk of the Celtic offense.  Lalor, in particular, would be mentioned among the top grade 9s in CWOSSA (in my opinion).  Grade 10 centre Kwame Adam has a lot of length and can make things difficult on the interior for opponents.

The North Park Trojans, led by Matt Minutillo, are your #3 squad and are expected to be in the running for a title shot --- particularly on their home floor.  The Trojans are also seeking a bit of redemption after being upset by the KCI Raiders in last year's semifinals (when they were awarded the #1 seeding).

Galt (#4) and Brantford Collegiate (#5) will face off in a first round game that could go either way.  A couple of high scoring players will take to the court in this one, with TJ Lall (Galt) and Tristan Almas (BCI) being two that can put up some 20+ efforts with regularity.  These are two dangerous clubs that must not be taken lightly in the semifinals --- much like KCI as a #5 last year.

Rounding out the field are Huron Heights (#6), Preston (#7) and Centre Dufferin (#8).  Of the three, Huron Heights might have the most upset potential, as they unfortunately dropped an early season head-to-head game against Brantford CI, and also lost to Galt during league play (albeit with their leading scorers suspended).  Those losses left really no choice for the tournament convenors but to put them down as a 6-seed. However, with wins over teams like St. David, SJAM, and others on their resume, they may have some upset potential depending on the play they get from Arshid Babury and Ahmed Radi.

My Picks:

(1) St. James over (8) CDDHS

(2) St. David over (7) Preston
(3) North Park over (6) Huron Heights - in a close one

(4) Galt over (5) Brantford CI

Semifinals:

(1) St. James over (4) Galt
(2) St. David over (3) North Park

Final:

(1) St. James over (2) St. David, by 6.

Senior

After a great late season run that saw several big intra-CWOSSA wins, the Centre Dufferin Royals were awarded the top billing on the senior side, just ahead of the North Park Trojans.

The Royals are led by their 6'3"/6'4" twin towers, Marco and Carlo Zanette, while Doug Costanzo also plays a big role on the scoresheet.  The Royals have some solid CWOSSA experience, with the core of this group having won the "AAA" junior title two years ago.  I look for them to get a solid run in the semifinals, but if they play well, there's a good chance they could be walking away with the tournament crown.

The #2 seeded North Park Trojans are actually the team that the majority of our poll's participants picked to win at the AAA senior level --- and with good reason.  Marcus Jones and Marcus Hamilton, a couple of 5th year players, are sure to want to extend their careers and earn another trip to CWOSSA.  Nick Minutillo has been a great performer as well for the well-balanced Trojans.

Jacob Hespeler, with 6'6" F Jason Quiring, looked impressive in a WCSSAA quarterfinal win over Galt, while Quiring and the Hawks got some valuable experience by participating on semifinal Saturday against Forest Heights.  Saajan Arora is a sleek-shooting guard and the Hawks will go as far as those two can carry them this weekend.

Galt (#4) and Huron Heights (#5) are meeting in an all-WCSSAA first-round showdown, a rematch of their early January game that Galt won 68-50, after getting a massive 29-point effort from forward Gabe Vidal.  6'7" Jack Simmons, a CIS prospect, and Owais Khairi, a sleek-shooting guard, are their usual high scorers.

On the Huron side, Sean Samuel can score the ball in a variety of ways and is likely to be named among WCSSAA's top ten all-stars (first or second team).  Darcy Jacobs and grade eleven forward Alex Deadman also provide some key contributions.

Holy Trinity-Simcoe (#6), St. James (#7) and St. David (#8) round out the field.  Holy Trinity features the ever-dangerous Josh Johnson, who actually scored 28 of his team's 32 points in a league playoff game --- and that was with the other team knowing they had to shut him down.  If he can grab some support from his capable Titan teammate, HT may be able to hang around against JHSS and possibly spring a first-round upset.

My Picks

(1) CDDHS over (8) St. David

(2) North Park over (7) St. James

(3) Jacob Hespeler over (6) Holy Trinity

(4) Galt over (5) Huron Heights

Semifinals

(1) CDDHS over (4) Galt

(2) North Park over (3) Jacob Hespeler

Final

(2) North Park over (1) CDDHS - with home court being an edge in a close game.