The be all and end all for Canadian hoops news, the best in Canadian High School Basketball, Toronto Raptors, sports, entertainment, commentary and opinion...not really...
Just somewhere for hoopheads,sports fanatics and entertainment lovers to get together and talk about the games, athletes and stars that affect our daily lives. Straight talk...and we dont pull any punches!
A-Game Hoops Guelph Phoenix game summaries courtesy of A-Game Hoops...
On Saturday, September 25th the A-Game Hoops Guelph Phoenix Senior Mens team traveled to Kingston to take on The Royal Military College Palladins.
The Phoenix stormed out of the gates opening the game on 16-0 run and never looked back.
The Paladins showed some life behind Matthew Wookie's 21 points (5-9 3pt), but the gap soon widened to 30 points at half. The Phoenix won 104-52 behind the energetic play of their young developmental players. Kevin Pangos finished the game with a double double (14pts,11reb) while Agunwa Okolie poured in 17pts on 7 for 11 shooting from the field. Rhadi Knapp led all scorers with 23 points while grabbing 7 rebounds.
One dark note on the game, Phoenix guard Jay Mott went down in the first quarter with an ankle sprain.
Mott will meet with doctors this week to determine a return date.
The Phoenix had little time to savour the victory as the St. Lawrence College Vikings awaited them the following day.
Agunwa Okolie of Archbishop Denis O'Connor in Ajax, Ontario goes for the slam.
Courtesy Photo Riot Photography
On Sunday, September 26th the A-Game Hoops Guelph Phoenix Senior Mens played St. Lawrence College Vikings...
The Phoenix, only 14 hrs after walking of the court at the Royal Military College, took the floor to do battle with a scrappy, athletic St. Lawrence College Vikings team. The game was a hard fought affair which saw the Phoenix lead by 8 at the half behind solid play from Kyle Julius who finished the game with 20 points.
The second half began with a change of pace as the Vikings narrowed the Phoenix lead to 4. The Vikings momentum was stifled quickly however by an aggressive Guelph Phoenix zone press and a flurry of offense from developmental star Kevin Pangos who seemed to score at will and from all angles. Pangos finished the game with 28 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals leading the Phoenix to a 86-67 win.
After finishing 2-0 this past weekend the Phoenix must quickly prepare for back-to-back games. September 28th sees the Phoenix travel to Barrie to battle the Georgian College Grizzles at 7pm.
The following day the team must head to Waterloo to face the University of Waterloo Warriors at 7pm.
Radhi Knapp is all business at the charity stripe.
Courtesy Photo Riot Photography
A-Game Hoops squad led by Kyle Julius and super high schooler Kevin Pangos.
Courtesy Photo Riot Photography
Kyle Julius is a very serious guy when it comes to basketball. He was serious when he won OFSAA for the Hamilton Cathedral Gaels, he was serious when he played for the Ontario Provincial team, more serious when he played for Furman University and Guelph University becoming the 2nd All-Time leading scorer, even still when he became an OUA All-Star and CIS All-Canadian, and even more serious when he became a pro in Italy's first division. Kyle and his father Stu, who has coached CIS Women's basketball for over 25 years at Lakehead and Laurier decided to ratchet up the seriousness in developing basketball in Canada by starting A-Game Hoops where the slogan is "build your game"! This program run out of the Guelph, Ontario area "has created a system focused on the high school level development of elite high school players while giving accomplished players a venue to continue to play at a very high level", according to the program's website...www.agamehoops.com. The men's team selects the finest junior players in the region and then they become team members. They practice together and then play games against College and University teams, semi-pro and professional squads which forces them to improve their games and learn nuances of the game that they would never learn by just playing against high school and age-group competition. Kyle, who I mentioned played in Europe says that's how club teams in Europe integrate the young studs onto the Men's squads. Nothing like this is being done in Ontario or Canada for that matter says Kyle and he truly believes it is the way of the future if Canada is to continue to ascend the rankings of basketball worldwide. Some development players include Kevin Pangos of Dr. Dennison, Henry Tan of Vaughan, Nem Semic of Cameron Heights, Troy Knight of Vaughan and Agunwa Okolie of Archbishop Dennis O'Connor in Ajax, Ontario.
Guys like Pangos and Tan are leaders on their respective high school squads but here with A-Game they are just one of the guys and seeing them get scolded by one of the coaches is not uncommon during practices, but any critique of the players, especially the development ones always exudes positivity and confidence building aspects. The kids know that they are getting quality teaching and instruction from some of the best coaches that Canada has to offer!
The senior players on the "Phoenix" team as they are called include 6'8" Wisconsin Green Bay grad, Mike King, Dan Eves, a former York University Star, big man Rhadi Knapp of Guelph, and of course Kyle Julius the founder of A-Game. Tut Ruach, the star PG for the York Lions for the past few years, played with A-Game previously and through the games played against high level competition for the program, was able to secure a professional contract in Germany for this season.
A recent report on Eurobasket.com talks about Ruach's signing and mentions the Phoenix team...
Ruach and Woody commit to Itzehoe Eagles - by Moritz Korff
"As announced on their website, the CRE Eagles Itzehoe (Regionalliga North) have landed two import players with Tut Ruach (188-G-85, college: York University) and Martinis Woody (203-F/C, college: Benedict).
Ruach, a Canadian guard out of Toronto, Ontario, was a standout at York University (CIS) and exhibited a double-digit scoring average in each season of his five year-college career. In 2008-09 Ruach averaged 18.5 points, 4.8 boards and 4.0 assists for the Lions. Following his graduation the 25-year-old Canadian of Sudanese descent continued his basketball career Guelph Phoenix. Itzehoe is going to be his first stint overseas."
So the results speak for themselves as a couple other players have gotten contracts after playing for A-Game hoops as well.
But A-Game isn't only the Phoenix and games against high level teams-it's also a organization that provides individual player training, team training, camps and clinics. On the website, Kyle talks about "work ethic, focus and consistency" which he used to bring his game to the next level and become a professional. He and his father work with all participants showing them new offensive and defensive sets, fitness level training and an often overlooked aspect to athletes, nutrition! In order to play well you have to eat well and A-Game firmly believes in treating your body right in order to get the most out of it.
Mauro Di Vito, the Head coach at Villanova College in King City is another quality coach who imparts his basketball knowledge on all the Phoenix ballers.
What's next for the Phoenix: They've started their schedule already defeating Royal Military College and St. Lawrence College this past weekend and play 3 more games this week including tilts against Georgian College, the University of Waterloo and Mohawk College in Hamilton. So if you want to see great quality basketball and also witness the future of Canadian hoops in players like the supremely talented Pangos and the very solid Henry Tan get out to the gyms and take in the action!
2010 FIBA U17 All-Stars including Canada's Kevin Pangos.
Recently FIBA did something very interesting and pleasing with respect to their World Rankings. They have added results from the age-group tournaments to determine how countries throughout the world are ranked.
"For the first time, the U19 and U17 FIBA World Championships for Boys and Girls as well as all U16 and U18 continental championships weigh in to determine the new FIBA categories for boys and girls."
This is phenomenal news for a country like Canada which is becoming a power on the youth stage and a lot of these players such as Myke Kabango, Kevin Pangos, Corey Joseph, Anthony Bennett, Tristan Thompson, and on and on and on will be moving up to the Jr. National men's team and then on to the Sr. National Men's team in the next 2-3 years.
FIBA Secretary General and IOC member Patrick Baumann had this to say about the rankings including the youth categories...“This is a great initiative and one that has been a long time coming. We have to make sure we reward the countries that perform well in youth competitions because the young players coming through the junior ranks are the best investment in the future of basketball.”
The Americans top all 5 lists including the Men's, Women's, Boys, Girls and Combined which is not surprising. Canadian Women are 12th overall, The Girls are 3rd while the Boys are ranked 6th in the world just below Spain at 3 and ahead of Serbia and France at 4 and 5! In the combined rankings Canada is 12th in the world! Great ranking for a country that looks to improve in the coming years! Spain is ranked 2nd combined and Canada is ahead of Turkey, Germany, Puerto Rico and the Czech Republic to name a few in the overall category.
The Turkish Men's side moved up the most on the FIBA rankings after their surprising home-crowd pleasing ascent to the title game against the U.S. Despite the loss in the final they moved up 12 spots to 6th in the world!
The Canadian Men's team has dropped from 19th to 23rd after bowing out of the FIBA World Championships without a win in 5 games. But again, as the younger players improve and move up in the National Program you will certainly see that number shrinking very soon in my humble opinion! Canada is on it's way folks, so the rest of the world better look out for the Red and White of the Canucks.
Go Canada Go!
Combined Ranking (Men/Women/Boys/Girls) after 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men
Rank Country IOC Current Points +/- Rank*
1. USA USA 2498.0
2. Spain ESP 1487.8
3. Russia RUS 1302.0 +1
4. Australia AUS 1233.0 -1
5. Argentina ARG 1129.4
6. Lithuania LTU 909.8 +4
7. Brazil BRA 768.8 -1
8. Greece GRE 755.4 -1
9. France FRA 715.2 +2
10. China CHN 707.9 -2
11. Serbia SRB 647.8 -2
12. Canada CAN 486.4 +5
13. Turkey TUR 464.4 +9
14. Czech Republic CZE 418.2 -2
15. Italy ITA 416.8 -1
16. Korea KOR 388.0 -1
17. Puerto Rico PUR 314.8 +1
18. New Zealand NZL 305.0 -2
19. Croatia CRO 263.2 +2
20. Germany GER 242.0 -7
Peep the full FIBA Combined Ranking HERE.
On the left of the page you can select each individual category like Men's, Womens, Boys and Girls.
Before he and team Canada left for Turkey and the FIBA Worlds, Joel Anthony of the Miami Heat stopped by HoopDome to check things out at the B-Game Exposure Camp. Now we all know that the Canadian squad left the tournament without a win finishing at 0-5, but Joel did his part and rebounded and played solid defence in the paint for the Canucks. His offensive game is still miles behind his defence but his improvement on the scoring side has risen in the last few years. Fresh off signing a new multi-million dollar contract with the Heat, Anthony talked about his contract as well as him looking forward to playing with Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh down in Miami. Heat Exec Pat Riley had a lot of praise for Anthony during the re-signing but when you hear Anthony talk, he's not one to let all the praise, even from a legend like Riley, get to his head!
Check out my interview with him below...
A relative unknown in Ontario circles...but a proven commodity in the province of Quebec...Yann Charles has parlayed his immense basketball talents into a basketball scholarship to Robert Morris University in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The 6'5" SF out of Champlain St. Lambert can get it done inside and outside with a game that is versatile and crafty all at the same time. He's also a lefty which makes it doubly tough to guard him on the hard court.
Here's what Robert Morris head coach Andrew Toole had to say about incoming freshman Charles courtesy of http://www.thepaint.net/:
“Yann is a versatile player that can play both inside and outside,” Toole said. “He has great size and strength for an incoming freshman, and that’s going to help him in his transition to Division I basketball. He’s able to step out and make jump shots, but he can also battle down low. I see him competing and contributing in his first season at Robert Morris.”
So look for big things from this Southpaw as he and the rest of the Colonials tackle the elite in the Northeast Conference! Check out the Colonials website right HERE.
There's nothing like Sports...The thrill of U know what and the agony of....blah blah blah!
Join me...Drew Ebanks, a former Global TV(Sports) reporter as I delve deep INSIDE the world of Dunks, Goals and Touchdowns!
TIME TO RISE UP!
.jpg)
