CALGARY - The Dinos basketball teams have been road warriors to open the Canada West season, and at long last they make their debuts in the Jack this weekend.
After a season-opening jaunt to Winnipeg, where the Dinos took on the Bisons and the Wesmen on consecutive nights to open the year, both Dinos teams had solid outings on the dreaded Abbotsford-Kamloops swing trip, each earning a pair of wins over Fraser Valley and Thompson Rivers. Both the Dinos men and women enter the weekend with 3-1 records.
There is little doubt that Friday night's Dinos-Brandon contest will be the marquee game of the weekend, not to mention one of the top games that will be played in Canada West this season. It's a rematch of the last home game the Dinos played that actually meant something – the 2008 conference bronze medal game, a 97-83 decision for the Bobcats. Both teams had lost tough semifinals the night before, and both ended up on the outside looking in for last year's national championship tournament in Ottawa – despite both being ranked No. 2 in the nation at one point last year.
Brandon has taken five of the six games played between the two sides since 2005, including two last season – the aforementioned bronze medal game, along with a tight 81-77 decision in conference play at the shoebox-sized Brandon University Gym.
Brandon (2-0) has played just two league games so far this season, sweeping the Manitoba Bisons last weekend at home. In the early going they boast two of the conference's top three scorers in all-star Dany Charlery (24.5 points per game) and Rejean Chabot (22.5). Chabot is a transfer from Saskatchewan, sitting out last season in order to be eligible to play for the Bobcats in 2008-09.
Perimeter and outside play is the forte of the Bobcats, who feature a veteran starting five with significant offensive firepower, averaging a conference-high 93 points per game.
The height advantage certainly belongs to the home side, however, with 6'7” Stevens Marcelin the tallest of the Brandon starting five. Calgary counters with one of the best frontcourt trios in the nation with Henry Bekkering and Ross Bekkering, along with Robbie Sihota. Sihota has been the team's offensive leader in the early stages, sitting fourth in the conference with 22 points per game and leading the Dinos in points in three of four games this year.
Saturday night's opponents for the Dinos men, the Regina Cougars, have long been chasing Brandon for dominance in the Great Plains Division and came within one win of defeating the Bobcats in the division final last year. Leading scorer Bryden Wright is gone from that team, but all four remaining starters are back. Fourth year point guard Paul Schuback and fourth year forward Jamal Williams lead the Cougars, who are 2-0 on the season heading into this weekend after sweeping Winnipeg last week.
The Dinos handed the Cougars a 74-66 loss in Regina last season in the teams' only meeting. Since Canada West merged with the Great Plains Athletic Conference early in this decade, the Cougars are 0-10 against the Dinos, and their last win in a meaningful game over Calgary was in January 1970. Of course, Regina has beaten Winnipeg twice this season, and Winnipeg is the only team to have beaten the Dinos in this young campaign.
The Dinos women, meanwhile, feature a young lineup with five pure freshmen on the 11-player roster and will take on a pair of 1-1 Great Plains Division teams this weekend.
It would seem that the Dinos have already picked up right where they left last season and are already the highest-scoring team in Canada West, averaging 71 points in their four games so far. Returning second team All-Canadian Courtney Coyle is back for her fifth and final season and leads the team with her 13.8 points-per-game average, good enough for 10th spot on the conference scoring list.
Whitney Haswell and Ashley Hill joined Coyle as the team's top three scorers last season, and the trio is back to provide leadership to a very young Dinos squad. Outside those three players, the entire roster is made up of first- and second-year athletes – most notably point guard Megan Lang, who was named to the CIS all-rookie team last year after an excellent freshman campaign.
The Brandon Bobcats are an improving team in Canada West, but they really didn't have much choice but to improve. The 'Cats snapped an 87-game losing skid with back-to-back wins to end the season last year, and they sit 1-1 after splitting with Manitoba last week to open 2008-09.
After two games, the Bobcats are averaging 70 points per night, just a point per game back of Calgary's total. The Dinos took care of Brandon easily in their only meeting last season, winning 106-73 in Brandon.
Calgary broke the century mark against Regina last year as well, but it took overtime to do so in a 102-96 win on the road. As hosts of the CIS championship in March, the Cougars are already guaranteed a spot at the nationals but could well earn their way there anyway with a talented group of athletes, led by Rebecca Schmidt (14.5 points per game) and Jessica Lynch (14).
Regina is also 1-1 heading into this weekend after splitting with Winnipeg – again, the only team to have defeated the Dinos this season.
Both Regina teams play in Lethbridge Friday night while Brandon plays in Calgary, switching cities for Saturday night on the southern Alberta swing trip.
The Dinos remain home next weekend for their first divisional series of the season, taking on the Lethbridge Pronghorns Friday and Saturday nights.
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