High school senior boys basketball has subdivided in the past couple of years with schools now grouped into four different tiers based on size.
The move made it easier for smaller schools to compete for provincial glory without having to take on any Goliaths, but it also took a bit of fun out of local leagues. It's a little bit tougher these days to figure out who holds the championship belt as the best team on the North Shore because each tier has a league and there's no need for teams to play out of their league.
The championship belt, therefore, now takes on a more mythical quality with the top AAAA school likely given the benefit of the doubt unless a smaller school can prove otherwise through tournament results, exhibition games and provincial rankings and the like. A school like, say, AA Collingwood.
This season the Cavaliers are undefeated in North Shore AA league play, outscoring their opponents by an average of 38.5 points per game. They're ranked No. 4 in the province at the AA level and they've already played exhibition matches against two of the North Shore's four AAAA teams — last year's Howe Sound finalists Handsworth and West Vancouver — and beaten them both by double digits, including a 25-point win over West Van in December. How's that for a best of the North Shore resumé?
"I guess based on the results you could say that," Collingwood head coach Virgil Hill said with a suspicious laugh when asked if his team holds the North Shore belt right now. "Probably the benefit that we've had is that we've played those teams on a one-off. . . . If we were in their league it would be a different story because you see common opponents, you've got to play them twice or sometimes three or four times. That becomes a different dynamic than just a one-off."
The Cavaliers, however, are certainly not afraid to take on any opponent in the province.
"To me it doesn't matter what tier you're in, whether it's A or AAAA, basketball is basketball," said Hill. "You want to know that you can play against anybody. The difference is just school size. It doesn't matter how big your school is, there's still only five guys on the floor. To me it doesn't really matter if you're a big school or a small school — if you can play, you can play."
And it's becoming quite clear that these Cavaliers can play. In their four AA league games they are averaging more than 98 points per game and have cracked 100 twice — very rare numbers for high school basketball. Scoring is what they do best, said Hill.
"For a team to beat us they have to be able to keep pace with our scoring," he said. "The guys are quite unselfish so we tend to get good shots at the offensive end. . . . We can really shoot the ball well and we really get up and down the floor well. Combine those two things and we can put up 30 points in a quarter."
The Cavaliers need to score and play at a high pace because they lack the size to bang inside with bigger, stronger teams, said Hill, estimating that the tallest Cavalier is a slim six-foot-three, while most of the players hover around the five-foot-11 mark.
"Our Achilles heal is our ability to rebound the defensive glass," he said. "If there's any team that has any amount of size, that really causes us problems."
Collingwood's answer is to try to run those opposing big guys right off the floor. Leading that charge is Aman Mehat, a Grade 12 guard who is the only member left of the 2012-13 Collingwood senior team that went to the provincial championships. Mehat was only in Grade 10 back then but he was already a key member of the squad. And he's even better now, says Hill.
"He's bigger, stronger, faster. Not much taller, but he can play the whole game pretty much at full pace. He makes his teammates better. He scores in a variety of ways now, and defensively he must average about four steals a game. He's become a much better defensive player."
Grade 11 guard Jaden Narwal keeps the offense flowing alongside Mehat. "He's an all-around scorer," Hill said of Narwal. "He's a guy who can really shoot the ball, he can penetrate the ball, he can finish midrange and he's good in transition. He's a very tough guy to guard. If you put a small guy on him he'll post him. If you put a big guy on him he'll take him outside."
Rounding out Collingwood's power trio is Grade 12 forward Hunter Welsh, the team's muscle. Hill calls him the team's best defender.
"He can defend all positions on the floor, generally," he said. "He's the one guy that can muscle up, go inside and is really a handful for the other team. He is quite skilled — he can shoot the three, midrange, he scores in a variety of ways and they're all high percentage."
With their strong play in the North Shore AA league the Cavaliers have already wrapped up first place and have won the right to host the league's championship tournament starting Feb. 17. Collingwood appears to be the clear favourite heading into the playoffs but they aren't taking anything for granted.
"We've beaten all the teams in the league already but you never know what can happen," said Hill. "You've got to stay sharp, stay hungry and not take it for granted that you're going to get (to provincials). When it's the kids' Grade 12 year everybody plays hard and everybody is fighting for that chance to extend their season."
The Cavaliers certainly want to extend their season as far as it will go. With the squad he's put on the floor Hill is hoping Collingwood will still be running and gunning when it's down to the provincial final four.
"We won the league title but that's one step in where we want to go," he said. "Hopefully we can get to the medal round and win a medal. That's what our goal is."
The Cavs will battle for North Shore bragging rights again Monday when they host AAAA-level Argyle in a 7:30 tip-off.
