Here's a look at the teams and schedule for the "AAA" CWOSSA championships, which will be contested tomorrow and Monday in Guelph.Tomorrow's action takes place at St. James (senior) and St. Ignatius (junior).
Junior Teams
Westside SS (Orangeville)
North Park (Brantford)
St. James (Guelph)
Preston (Cambridge) - WCSSAA #1
Jacob Hespeler (Preston) - WCSSAA #2
St. David (Waterloo)
Senior Teams
Westhill (Owen Sound)
St. John's (Brantford)
St. James (Guelph)
KCI (Kitchener) - WCSSAA #1
Galt (Cambridge) - WCSSAA #2
Monsignor Doyle (Cambridge)
The draw has been posted on the CWOSSA website (here's a link).
Pool A: WCSSAA #1, D10 #1, D1/7 or D4
Pool B: D5 #1, WCSSAA #2, D8
Of note - my apologies to the tournament organizers who clarified that, despite the WCSSAA playoff seed of KCI (SR) and PHS (JR) being better than Galt (SR) and JHSS (JR), they will actually be "WCSSAA #2" in both divisions, due to tiebreaking procedures on CWOSSA qualification from the WCSSAA website (http://wcssaa.ca/sites/all/files/Basketball-Boys_0.pdf).
Essentially, JHSS had a better common opponent record than PHS in junior, while KCI and GCI had the same record in senior (but GCI won H2H).
Junior Pool A
Jacob Hespeler
St. James
Westside
Junior Pool B
North Park
Preston
St. David
Senior Pool A
Galt
St. James
Westhill
Senior Pool B
St. John's
KCI
Monsignor Doyle
Predictions/Comments - Junior
On the junior side, St. James and North Park have been among the discussions among top "AAA" teams during the season, and those teams certainly enter this tournament as the favourites to make the championship final.
Pool "B" on the junior side, though, is quite competitive with North Park, Preston and St. David --- I actually wouldn't be surprised to see any of those three teams make the semifinals.
Pool A Prediction
St. James 2-0
Jacob Hespeler 1-1
Westside 0-2
Pool B Prediction
North Park 2-0
Preston 1-1
St. David 0-2
Semifinals: St. James over Preston; North Park over Jacob Hespeler.
Championship Final: St. James over North Park
Predictions/Comments - Senior
Like the junior competition, Pool B seems to be the most competitive of the two pools if you had to pick one.
St. John's is certainly the favourite in that pool, but both KCI (who have had their moments this past season) and Monsignor Doyle (with solid balance and 4/5 guys that could score 20+ if given the opportunity) could certainly both advance to the semis depending on how things play out.
In Pool "A", the St. James' Lions, playing on their home court, look like a solid favourite to win that pool, with the more competitive of the two games being a 10am game against Galt CI.
Pool A Prediction
St. James 2-0
Galt 1-1
Westhill 0-2
Pool B Prediction
St. John's 2-0
KCI 1-1
MDCSS 0-2
Semifinals: St. John's over Galt; St. James over KCI.
Final: St. John's over St. James
