Whew.After a busy couple of weeks of league and "CWOSSA" championship basketball, it's time to reflect on a few things. In no particular order.....
1. Shoutout to St. Benedict CSS in Cambridge for the way they handled their D8 junior semifinal. The Saints had a student sing "O Canada", and even announced all the starters for both teams. Nice to see a fair amount of student support for a junior playoff game too.
2. Props to JF Ross CVI for another admirable job hosting the AAAA "CWOSSA tournament". I would have liked to see a program (or at least roster sheets for the final) and perhaps a pre-game introduction before the final, but minor details. I'm sure that had to do with it not being an "official CWOSSA" tournament.
3. St. Mary's HS is quickly gaining a reputation similar to that of the "KCI Crazies" a few years' back (not quite that level yet, but getting there....). The Eagles had a vocal contingent (and even brought along their drum) for the CWOSSA final. Nice to see that level of school spirit!
4. The experiment of the D8 final at the University of Waterloo is likely over. No surprise after seeing a sparsely attended junior final between St. Mary's and St. Benedict (I walked in at 5 minutes to tip time to a crowd of about 20 parents). The senior final was able to fill up one side of the UW stands, although I'm sure the fact that most people anticipated a blowout kept many away. Fans were boisterous, but given the cavernous facility, something was lost. Personally, I'd suggest hosting the finals at the "highest senior seed that makes the final" going forward.
5. After not having a team qualify for AAAA OFSAA last year, WCSSAA was able to again send a team with an "all WCSSAA" semifinal between WCI and Grand River. After seeing a "D10 surge" over the last 5-6 years (3 straight OFSAA appearances for Centennial followed by 3 straight for JF Ross), I think we're going to see a shift back to Waterloo Region (either D8 or WCSSAA) providing at least one of the OFSAA representatives for the near future.
6. St. Mary's got some further experience in close games over the weekend, although I'm sure Head Coach Jason Hergott would have preferred it not to be that way (particularly the semifinal, where the Eagles blew a 17-point lead before winning in overtime). Regardless, let's hope it provides a valuable lesson/experience for the youthful Eagles heading into their second consecutive OFSAA; St. Mary's certainly didn't get many close games in league play, that's for sure.
7. I was impressed with the strides that WCI's Adam Anagnostopoulos has made in his game over the past year. Sure, he's first and foremost a volleyball player, but he's really improved his ball-handling, defense, and shot-making abilities. He was a big reason as to why WCI was able to pick up an OFSAA berth.
8. It's time to put an end to the 6-team rigid CWOSSA format. I thought it was a good idea this year to give the #2 team in all-districts a play-in game. Personally (at the AAAA level), I want to see a return to the 8-team format, given that there are now enough teams to make it happen. If it stays as a 6-team tournament, I'd like to see all districts get 1 berth, and then the 2 remaining teams to be "wild card entries" going to the two best non-qualifiers, regardless of district.
9. The Bishop Mac Celtics certainly have looked impressive over the past month, and got past a very tough Centre Dufferin team in the "AA" final. I wouldn't be surprised to see them make some noise at OFSAA, where I would expect them to be CWOSSA's highest-seeded team out of the 5 that are participating at an OFSAA championship. BMAC has a mental edge in that they have already defeated the likely #1 seed, ACMT, in tournament play this year. Based upon the qualifiers, they certainly seem like a top-5 team.
10. St. Mary's will surely get a top-10 seed again at AAAA OFSAA. I have them ahead of WCI, Brother Andre, St. Joan of Arc, Ursuline College, Collingwood, and Notre Dame (Welland). They're in a group of about 4 schools for the "7 to 10" spots, of which I think they're probably a 9 or 10, like last year.
More thoughts to come, but there's 10 for discussion. As always, feel free to Tweet (@CWOSSABball) or e-mail (mark at cwossabasketball.com) if you want to discuss!
