Cascades head coach Adam Friesen will be developing a youthful squad this season.
The University of the Fraser Valley basketball teams tip off the Canada West regular season this weekend, as they visit the UBC Thunderbirds.
Games run Friday (women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m.) and Saturday (women 5 p.m., men 7 p.m.) at War Memorial Gymnasium, and will be webcast at CanadaWest.tv.
The Cascades’ home openers are the following weekend, Nov. 3-4 vs. the Mount Royal Cougars at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.
MEN’S BASKETBALL 2016-17 SEASON IN REVIEW
Regular-season record: 11-9 (10th in Canada West)
Post-season record: 1-2 (eliminated in Canada West first round)
This year’s edition of the Cascades men’s basketball team is easily the youngest of head coach Adam Friesen’s tenure, but there’s a lot of promising talent on the roster.
“We’re a group that understands that playing together is going to be the key to our success,” said Friesen, the Cascades’ sixth-year bench boss. “We’re going to try to be the aggressors as much as we can during games, and learn from our mistakes quickly. We want to make the game as up-and-down as we can, and get everyone opportunities to get on the floor and to grow.
“With youth comes energy, and we’d better have a lot of energy, especially off the bench. We’ve got 40 minutes each game to use it.”
That the Cascades are in the midst of a youth movement was already clear when the school year started, with last season’s starting backcourt (Manny Dulay and Vijay Dhillon) having graduated. But that reality has been further underscored by the loss of centre Nav Bains to a season-ending knee injury. Bains had been the lone fifth-year on the roster.
In his absence, the Cascades have just three players in their third or fourth years of eligibility – forwards Mark Johnson, Andrew Morris and Matt Cooley. The rest of the roster, including the entire backcourt, is comprised entirely of first- and second-year players.
Johnson (8.9 points, 6.1 rebounds per game last season) and Morris (8.4 points, 3.5 boards) are both in their fourth years, and both bring versatile offensive skillsets. Cooley will play a key role up front after missing the bulk of last season with a foot injury, and towering 6’10” sophomore Sukhman Sandhu is a potential impact player.
On the perimeter, versatile 6’5” swingman Daniel Adediran has had an outstanding preseason, and fellow sophomore Riley Braich takes over the starting point guard duties. Redshirt freshmen Sagar Dulay and Jordyn Sekhon and true freshman Kenan Hadzovic will be in the mix for minutes, along with Vick Toor, a dynamic point guard from Seattle.
Riley Braich steps into the starting lineup after coming off the bench as a rookie.
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