Brent Mutis, CapU sport info & compliance officer
For the second year in a row, the Blues men's basketball team are representing Capilano University at the CCAA National Championship tournament, the first time they've gone to back-to-back nationals.
This year, CapU goes in as a gold-medal winner and a higher seed as champions of the PACWEST conference. That's given them a higher seeding for nationals and theoretically an opening round matchup where they are the favoured team.
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Here are some items you need to know heading into the Blues first game, a quarter-final meeting with the George Brown College Huskies of Toronto.
OPPONENT - George Brown College was the No. 3-ranked team in the country in the final CCAA poll of the season which was released on Feb. 28 while Capilano was not ranked in any of the last five polls. The Blues last saw their name their on Jan. 24 when they were the No. 14 rated team. In a win-or-bust tournament like this one however, it's all about who is playing well and trending the right way on game day. The Huskies will be hungry after dropping the OCAA conference final to St. Clair College and the Blues have some of the weight of expectation on them.
DIFFERENCE MAKERS - The Huskies had four players average double-digits in scoring during the season with Derrick Taylor and Jeremiah Brown each getting 12.2 per game. The 6-foot-5 Taylor pulls down seven rebounds per game while 6-foot-9 DM Betoukoumessou averages 5.8 boards.
Capilano was led this season by All-Canadian Tyrone Asenoguan and his PACWEST-best 22.3 points per contest. January additions Zach Klim and David Featherston boosted the Blues work on the boards as they averaged 6.5 and 5.8 rebounds per game respectively.
VENUE - Jack Simpson Gym at the University of Calgary is the hardwood for the CCAA Nationals. Just down the road from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), which is the tournament host, 'the Jack' has seating for 3,454 spectators and has hosted USports national tournaments in men's and women's hoops.