The University of Victoria Vikes moved up one spot to No. 2 in the U Sports men’s basketball national top-10 poll this week behind the dynastic Carelton Ravens. But teams good enough to be ranked in the top-10 polls in any sport don’t dwell on it because it’s yesterday’s news.
“Rankings are based on past performance and are not about today. We want to focus on the present,” said Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp.
The present is represented by the University of Northern B.C. Timberwolves (5-5), who make the lengthy trip to the South Island to face the Vikes (10-2) Friday and Saturday in Canada West play on Ken and Kathy Shields Court in CARSA gymnasium.
There are no easy outs in Canada West and the Timberwolves are representative of that and swept Calgary and beat national No. 9-ranked UBC in Point Grey. UNBC was swept last week by Manitoba but played tough and kept the two games close against a Bisons squad (9-1) that is ranked No. 8 in the U Sports national top-10 poll.
“They [Timberwolves] have had some signature wins, and are one of the best three-point shooting teams in the conference,” said Beaucamp.
The Vikes swept the Cougars (5-5) in Regina last weekend thanks to 24 points from rookie Renoldo Robinson in the first game and 18 in the second game. The six-foot-three Montreal product is the prize recruit to replace the graduated all-Canadian Scott Kellum at point guard. Robinson was named Quebec colleges player of the year last season at Dawson College. He came with the bonus of having a full five years of U Sports eligibility, despite playing two seasons with the Dawson Blues, because Quebec college seasons don’t count against U Sports eligibility.
“Renoldo is starting to get comfortable in our system,” said Beaucamp.
“He is very dynamic and plays hard and can get to the rim and cause havoc.”
The UVic Vikes women’s team (4-8), meanwhile, took the U Sports top-ranked Regina Cougars (9-1) to the wire in a six-point loss last weekend in the Saskatchewan capital.
“We are better than our record shows but a record is still a record,” said Vikes head coach Carrie Watts. “We need to get all the pieces together and get some wins in the playoff race. It’s a matter of putting it all together.”
Defending Canada West scoring-champion Ashlyn Day of UVic is third in the conference this season with a 19.8 points-per-game average while Brooklyn White leads the Vikes in rebounding with an 8.6 per-game average.
The UNBC women come in at 3-7 but are also more dangerous than their record indicates. The T-Wolves have three international players in Russians Alina Shakirova, who leads the team in scoring with 17.1 points per game, and Sveta Boykova, who leads UNBC in rebounds with 8.8 per game to show why she has twice represented Russia in the World University Games, the last time as captain. Laura Garmendia Garcia from Spain leads UNBC in blocked shots.
The international connections come through Timberwolves head coach and former Soviet Union national team player Sergey Shchepotkin, who is in his ninth season at the UNBC helm. Shchepotkin played 15 seasons of pro basketball in Russia and Lebanon. He guided four future WNBA players as coach of the pro Dynamo Moscow club.
The UVic-UNBC men’s games are 8 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday. The women’s games are 6 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday, the latter which is the Shoot for the Cure game to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society and other Island and B.C. charities related to breast cancer.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
