Oak Bay coach Chris Franklin is dealing with that, as his squad duels with Spectrum and Dover Bay for two Vancouver Island sports, and he says “I have no complaints”
Longtime Oak Bay Bays coach Chris Franklin maintains the high school boys basketball B.C. championships should be more about provincial-wide representation than having the best 16 teams on hand.
You’d understand if he thought differently this season.
Oak Bay, the Spectrum Thunder of Saanich and Nanaimo’s Dover Bay Dolphins have been the top three ranked teams in the Quad A provincial rankings all campaign.
The Thunder were No. 1 in last week’s poll, knocking the Bays from that spot and down one placing by beating them 92-73 in a league game at home. The Dolphins dropped one position to No. 3 in the aftermath.
They’re clearly three of the main contenders to win the provincials, which go March 5-8 at the Langley Events Centre. At least one of those teams won’t be participating, though, since their Vancouver Island zone has just two berths to the event.
The odds of winning it all and of missing the tournament altogether are probably the exact same for the Dolphins, Thunder and Bays.
“I think the rules are fair. I have no complaints,” Franklin said. “A person’s season ends at some time. And the provincials has never been a best-16 tournament. It’s not an invitational tournament. It’s about provincial representation. There are no politics involved. You win and you move on. Life goes on.
“You’re trying to win a provincial title, but it’s also a celebration of sport and community, right? And part of the sport is all of the province. That’s just the way it is. Everyone comes together at one-time. You have your zone representative and they give their best efforts.”
Spectrum won the Quad A tournament last year, beating Surrey’s Tamanawis Wildcats in the final. Oak Bay wound up third after losing to Tamanawis in the semifinals. Dover Bay won the Triple A title, but were bumped up to Quad A this year because of an increase in school population. That’s how the tiers are slotted and berths to the provincials are handed out according to how many teams there are across the province and how many you have in the zone. It all comes down to the math.
There have been sports try to have backdoor games between rival zones for the final spots at a provincials, but that’s been ripe for politicking and infighting about which teams deserve consideration. There’s also added costs and logistics with getting those extra games played in a timely manner.
There’s been the odd suggestion over the years about dropping teams from outlying regions because they hadn’t played strong enough schedules during the year to be competitive, but that’s never gained any significant traction.
The general thought process now seems to be is that it’s a law of averages — with years where you deserve more berths and then years where you deserve less — and it will all even out in the end.
“None of us are mad about anything,” Spectrum coach Tyler Verde said. “It just makes the regular season and the Vancouver Island playoffs that much more important. It puts more emphasis on that, which is cool. We’re moving our city finals to UVic, because we think we’re going to pack the place.
“It’s really good for the basketball community here, which already has a rich history. To hear so many people talking about basketball is really special.”
There have been stories similar to this in the past.
For example, the North Shore’s Howe Sound zone had one berth to the Triple A provincial tournament — which was boys’ basketball’s top tier then — in 2007. The reigning provincial champion Handsworth Royals of North Vancouver looked poised for another run at a title, holding down the No. 1 spot in the rankings going into Howe Sounds. Handsworth fell twice in a row to the unranked West Vancouver Highlanders to lose out in the double knockout zone tournament, dropping a 63-58 and then a 63-61 decision as their season came to an abrupt end.
Rob Sacre, who was a centre on that Handsworth team, went on to play for Gonzaga University and then the Los Angeles Lakers.
The one difference between that Handsworth tale and the one that Spectrum, Oak Bay and Dover Bay are playing out right now is that Handsworth was upset, eliminated by an underdog. The Dolphins, Bays and Thunder are all have a clear and present danger of not making the provincials staring at them.
That said, the two teams that qualify from the Vancouver Island for the LEC will be certainly battle tested by that point.
“The teams that come out of the Islands will probably be on other sides of the draw at the provincials,” said Dover Bay coach Darren Seaman. “Whoever wins the Islands will probably be No. 1, and whoever finishes second will be No. 2. Hopefully they’ll work their way through the provincials and play each other again in the final.”
The No. 2 Bays lost an 82-70 decision to the No. 5 Kelowna Owls Friday in the semifinals of the Western Canada tournament hosted by the Owls, so that’s bound to cause movement in next week’s rankings. Kelowna was slated to play Spectrum in Saturday’s tournament finale, thanks to Spectrum’s 80-60 win over Calgary’s All Saints on Friday.
@Steve-ewen.bsky.social