CWOSSA End of Season Awards: Senior Rookie and Newcomers of The Year

Continuing on with our "end of season" awards, here's a look at the winners of my CWOSSA-wide "Rookie of the Year" and "Newcomer of the Year" awards:

Senior CWOSSA "Rookie of the Year"

Juwan Miller - Forest Heights CI, 5'10" G

Again, no real surprise here as Miller was dynamic this past season, and a big reason as to why the Trojans won a WCSSAA title and held the #1 CWOSSA ranking for the majority of the season.

Obviously, he presents a dual threat to opponents as he has the quickness to get to the rim, but also the ability to hit from deep --- essentially, pick your poison.  

Although it is his offensive exploits that generally garner attention (he was the top grade 11 scorer in CWOSSA), he's certainly one of the better defenders (particularly on-ball) in CWOSSA as well.  He can certainly get after and harass ball-handlers, and I'm sure he'd be among the CWOSSA-wide leaders in steals if stats were kept.  

Further evidence of the above could be seen this past weekend, where Miller locked down Grant Mullins (who scored 42 against St. Mary's in the SBCSS tournament final) and held him to 15 points as the Waterloo Wildhawks defeated Burlington in the finals of the Thunder Jam tournament.  Based upon the tweets that I saw come from there, he certainly impressed those in attendance.

Keep in mind he's only grade eleven right now, so we have at least another year of him to enjoy watching here locally!

Senior CWOSSA "Newcomer of the Year"

Nathaniel Ellis - SJAM (Waterloo), 6'2" G/F

Ellis, who moved to Waterloo from Tillsonburg, was a 2nd team WCSSAA all-star selection, and certainly made a huge impact in his first year of CWOSSA basketball.  He was instrumental in helping his Highlanders make an impressive playoff run through WCSSAA and advancing to the CWOSSA "AAAA" championships.

He certainly turned a lot of heads with his play during the playoffs, and was tremendous defensively, helping shut down a couple of Grand River's top guns in a road playoff upset, and then was also given top defensive assignments in the WCSSAA semfinals and finals.  

Of course, he was also a double-digit scorer for the Highlanders, and had timely baskets as well during their playoff run.  In particular, he hit for 6 of the final 7 SJAM points (back-to-back three-pointers) against WCI to help the 'Landers earn that hard-fought victory.  A dunk against CWDHS in CWOSSA put the 'Landers in position for a victory, though CW would tie on a buzzer-beating three before SJAM prevailed in OT.