Saturday 10 March 2007

OUA Wilson Cup Championship Preview

OUA Championship Wilson Cup: Carleton at Windsor In a game that could have some affect on the seedings at next week's Final 8, the Ravens make their second visit to Windsor after winning on the first night of the regular season with a late charge, 73-71. Both teams have at least a couple of stars who either played NCAA Division 1 basketball or could have easily and chose not to; these teams are arguably the two most talented teams in Ontario. Carleton as usual gets it done with defense and rebounding plus an ability to find and exploit matchups at the offensive end. The Lancers, especially when point guard Ryan Steer contributes offense, have several ways to score and with the bruising Allin brothers protecting the paint and pesky Corey Boswell guarding the ball, Windsor can lock up teams defensively as well. Recently, Carleton has had 6'3" Stu Turnbull finding himself in favorable matchups and the third-year guard has taken advantage, especially in the playoffs, averaging a team-high 18 points per game in two playoff games. Turnbull has an underrated handle and usually is under control when he attacks the lane so is equally adept at finishing or finding teammates. Lately, the recipient of many Turnbull looks has been 6'3" Jean-Emmanuel Jean-Marie (12 ppg in playoffs - 2nd on Ravens), who seems to always be in positions where he can succeed and keeps it simple offensively for the most part. Carleton won both playoff games with less than usual contributions from 6'7" Aaron Doornekamp (11 ppg in playoffs) and 6'2" Ozvaldo Jeanty (10.5 ppg in playoffs) - it is difficult to imagine these two being held down for a third consecutive game. 6'4" Ryan Bell has had an inconsistent season offensively but he did hit a big 3 late in the Ottawa win and always provides his stellar, lock-up "d" both on and off the ball. Carleton's underrated bench has steadily contributed down the stretch as 6'3" Rob Saunders was strong defending Ottawa's Josh Gibson-Bascombe and has made big shots in his career while 6'7" Kevin McCleery, as long as he can defend the perimeter, could see significant minutes with potentially favorable matchups inside with the Allin brothers. 6'5" Daron Leonard can and must contribute immediate offense or his time will likely be limited due to his usual indifference defensively and on the glass. In the end, the Ravens have gone back to lock-up "d" based on tremendous preparation that takes teams out of their stuff and a team mental toughness that rarely if ever takes a possession off defensively - York shot 32.7% vs. Carleton while Ottawa shot 34.4% in the two playoff games. Windsor relies on their big front line and the mismatches they get from 6'8" Greg Surmacz and 6'6" Rich and Greg Allin to pound the ball inside and attack the offensive glass. But the offensive key to Windsor is 6'5" Kevin Kloostra, who possesses an array of offensive skills making him Lancers' most difficult matchup, able to knock 3's down, put the ball on the floor and create for himself and post up in the low and mid block. Getting anything inside has been difficult for Carleton's opponents lately so making shots early will be key for Windsor. Kloostra went off for a game-high 26 points in the last meeting, going 10-17 from the floor including 4-7 from 3 as Windsor shot 51% for the game against the Ravens. Expect Turnbull, who did a stellar job on 6'7" Dan Eves of York in the OUA East semi-final, among others to guard Kloostra and body him as much as possible. 6'3" combination guard Ryan Steer, another Lancer who can create his own shot defensively and with range out to the 3 ooint line, usually plays well if he gets going early and expect Corey Boswell to see a lot of time defending Jeanty which moves Steer over to the wing. Don't expect Carleton to guard Boswell until he proves he can make shots, so unless Windsor gains something defensively with Boswell, his time could be shortened as well (Boswell played 35 minutes in the first meeting without scoring). Kloostra's ability to defend his check will be also be key. Off the bench, three-point shooting specialist Matt Handsor can stretch defenses while coach Chris Oliver has tried to work freshman Tyler Carey and wing Kyle Kane into the rotation in the past but in big games their minutes have been limited. Tonight's game is available on Cogeco and Rogers Television across much of Ontario including the Greater Toronto area and both participating cities. As well, according to their web site, Streaming Sports Network will pick up the game on its web cast schedule with only 500 streams available Wilson Cup Web Cast From SSN

OTHER ARTICLES AND MEDIA ASSOCIATED WITH TONIGHT'S GAMES
The OUA web site previews tonight's Wilson Cup championship between Carleton and Windsor Wilson Cup Preview Also an interesting set of facts regarding the Wilson Cup from the OUA web site Wilson Cup by the Numbers

Mary Caton from the Windsor Star provides a preview of tonight's game Championship Test: Lancers Host Ravens Tonight

1 comment:

Dave NIchols said...

Local sports writer Claude Scilley posed this question in today's Kingston Whig Standard... " Do you suppose anybody at Queen's is squirming over this one? The two teams playing in the Wilson Cup today in Windsor are Carelton, coached by Dave Smart and Windsor, coached by Chris Oliver.
Smart, a Queen's alumnus, was turned down when he applied for the coaching vacancy about three years ago. Oliver was one of those guys. He coached at Queen's for two years - between Scott Meeson and Rob Smart- before fleeing the division."