The UNBC Timberwolves struggled in their first CIS soccer season but expectations are much higher in basketball.

The UNBC hoops teams take to the court tonight and Saturday at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in Kamloops to officially begin play in Canada West. The Timberwolves home openers are set for Nov 9th and 10th against Trinity Western University (TWU) of Langley.

Based on pre-season play, which sometimes can be misleading, the UNBC basketball teams should be competitive against the middle and lower CIS teams and overmatched against the stronger ones.

At the Pac-West (BCAA) level, the Timberwolves were champions last season and have been at or near the top for the past several years in basketball. The adjustment takes place in facing bigger, stronger and faster athletes in addition to going against more experienced and better coaches in CIS.

The growth of soccer at UNBC is at a slower pace and it was a monster learning curve making the jump. The UNBC men’s soccer team finished with a 1-13 record, with the only win against another expansion team, Mount Royal 3-0. Overall in the 14 games, they were outscored 47-8.

The Lady Timberwolves went a third straight soccer season without a victory, although they compiled three ties finishing 0-9-3. Of note, there were a number of games the UNBC women were destroyed on the soccer pitch against better CIS teams, including the last one, a 13-0 loss to UBC. Overall, they were outscored 71-6 with Sidney Roy scoring 5 of the 6 goals.

 

The UNBC basketball teams have had more time to prepare for their first season at the higher level and have more continuity, such as already having their coaching staffs in place and more veteran players ready for the transition period.

 

In exhibition play, the UNBC men lost relatively close games against CIS opposition, including 80-71 to host Waterloo, 88-77 to McMaster and 88-72 to Lakehead with the latter two games played at Fraser Valley. They also had a 97-89 impressive victory over York at Waterloo.

 

Furthermore, the UNBC women in the pre-season went 2-1 at Waterloo (62-57 over Cape Breton, 73-62 over Waterloo plus a 66-52 loss to Concordia). They also met a couple of CIS teams at Mount Royal and beat Lethbridge 77-56 but got thumped losing to Calgary 88-52.

 

UNBC will be one of eight teams in the Pacific Division along with TRU, TWU, UBC, UBC Okanagan, Fraser Valley, Victoria and another expansion team, Mount Royal. The top four teams will advance to the playoffs along with the top four in the Prairie Division.

 

Last season with only six teams in the Pacific, the men’s standings had Victoria 14-4, Fraser Valley and UBC 13-5, TWU 10-8, TRU 6-12 and UBC Okanagan (first year) 3-15.

The women’s standings had UBC 15-3, Fraser Valley 12-6, TRU 9-9, Trinity Western and Victoria 8-10 and UBC Okanagan 2-16.

When TRU went from BCAA to CIS, they were bottom feeders for a few years. UBC O also came last in both divisions in its inaugural season.

 

I don’t anticipate either of the UNBC teams to make the playoffs but on the other hand I am not expecting a last place showing especially since Mount Royal is in the same boat. 5^th or 6th place finishes in either division would seem to be realistic.

 

CIS has been discussing the idea of having Tier 1 and Tier 2 divisions instead of Prairie and Pacific. UNBC would certainly be highly competitive at the Tier 2 level.

 

The Timberwolves moving from PacWest to CIS could be argued as the equivalent of a hockey team going from the BCHL to the WHL. As a result, UNBC has jumped from a pre-season favorite with huge expectations in Pac-West, to a pre-season under-dog with much lower expectations in CIS.

 

The northern fans should end up a big winner, not necessarily on the scoreboard, but in watching the best Canadian Interuniversity Sport has to offer.

 

Just a few years ago, the thought of CIS in Prince George was a dream. As Walt Disney once stated “If you can dream it, you can do it.”