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Calgary Dinos superfan Wayne Thomas, who provides a wonderful service to Dinos alumni and friends with his frequent newsletters, has published his thoughts on recruiting in Canada West. We are grateful to Wayne for the tireless work he does helping to promote Dinos/Canada West basketball and especially for allowing us to share his great work with our readers. New revelations from Wayne's report include Kamar Burke transfering to UBC from Thompson Rivers and also former SFU wing Melvin Mayotte also to UBC.

Transfers Dominate Canada West Recruiting by Wayne Thomas

Do you go with a “quick fix” or take your time and build from within? That is the dilemma constantly facing the coaches in Canada West as they try to replace 5th year grads and bolster their line-ups with an eye toward chasing a championship. The successful recruitment of an outstanding high school talent such as Jarred Ogunbemi - Jackson, a two-time Manitoba HS Player of the Year, is a big coup for Calgary Dinos oach Dan Vanhooren and he says,”Jarred is a rare player, who brings such great athleticism and skills right out of high school ... he will contribute right away.” Calgary also landed Andrew McGuinness from Vancouver, another highly sought-after guard, who “can flat-out shoot it,” according to Vanhooren. Dan Tilleman from Phoenix, AZ, the son of Dinos legend Karl Tilleman, has “looked good in practice, and his versatility and size will help us”, commented the coach. These three are joined by Patrick Walker, a 6’8” post man from Airdrie, who looks like he could be a real find, and this group gives Calgary a wealth of young talent in a league which appears to be favouring transfers from U.S. or Canadian colleges to high school players.

If we look at Trinity Western Spartans, we see no fewer than 9 transfers from other colleges, including high profile additions Tyrell Mara (Portland St.) and Calvin Westbrook (Cal St.-Stanislus) giving TWU the most impressive incoming class on paper. UBC, where the T-Birds try to replace All-Canadian Chris Dyck and two strong forwards in Matt Racher and Bryson Kool, have nabbed 3 big transfers in Denny Dumas (N. Dakota), Kamar Burke (Thompson Rivers), and Melvin Mayotte (SFU). Victoria has also jumped at several college transfers, most notable being Nick Adair from nearby Camousen College.

Incoming Alberta Head Coach Greg Francis has bucked the trend by re-tooling largely with high school stars including Harry Ainlay’s Jordan Baker, and Rob Dewar, Guelph, ON, both of whom played on Canada’s Jr. National Team this past summer. Four other players directly from high school make the Bears the youngest squad in Canada West. Lethbridge also added five 1st years including Jeremy Stanley, Wm. Aberhart, Wes Chapman, Beaverbrook, Taylor Norum from High River, and teammates at Chestermere, Kyle Wilson and Sean McCormick. The ‘Horns really could be among those ‘Top 5 Classes’ as well.

Top 5 Recruiting Classes (as ranked by Wayne Thomas)

1.Trinity Western Spartans -
Tyrell Mara 6’6” F (transfer/Portland State
Calvin Westbrook 6’5” G (transfer/Cal. State-Stan.
Niko Monachini 6’6” F (transfer/Yuba JuCo)
Luke Braund 6’5” F (Vancouver, St. George’s)
Kurtis Osborne 6’6” F (Surrey, BC/Southridge)
Clint Wickham 6’8” F (transfer/Langara College;
Elijah Nakagawa 5’9” PG (transfer/Columbia Bible)

2. Calgary Dinos -
Andrew McGuinness 6’3” G (Vancouver,Handsworth)
Dan Tilleman 6’5” G/F (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Vista)
Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson 5’10” PG (Winnipeg, MB/Garden City)
Patrick Walker 6’8” F (Airdrie /George MacDougall)
Terrence Blake 6’1” PG (transfer/SAIT)
David Laskin 6’7” F (PhD student)

3. Alberta Golden Bears -
Todd Bergen-Henengouwen 6’5” F (Picture Butte)
Jordan Baker 6’7” F (Edmonton )
Jamaal Bucknor 6’7” F (transfer/Concordia Coll.)
Rob Dewar 6’11” C (Guelph, ON/NEDA)
Khas Tokar 6’1” G (transfer/Grand Prairie College)
Jordan Hone 6’2” G (transfer/Mount Royal College)
Ken Otieno 6’2” G (Lethbridge)
Nikola Manojlovic 6’9” C (Hamilton, ON)
Brett Kallio 6’2” G (transfer/Concordia College)
Colin McKinnon 6’10” C (Edmonton, AB)

4. UBC Thunderbirds -
Denny Dumas 6’2” G (transfer/North Dakota )
Chad Posthumus 6’10” C (Winnipeg )
Tommy Nixon 6’5” F (Vancouver )
Jas Gill 6’0” PG (Oliver, BC )
Melvin Mayotte 6’4” G (transfer/ Simon Fraser)
Kamar Burke 6’5” G (transfer/ Thompson Rivers)

5. Victoria Vikes -
Zac Andrus 5’10” PG (transfer/Whatcom JuCo )
Nick Adair 6’8” C (transfer/Camosun College )
Omid Davani 6’3” G (transfer/Kwantlen College)
Dan Evans 6’3” G (transfer/Capilano College)
Trevor Scheurmann 6’6” F (Winnipeg, MB)