B’ball teams prepped for Sept. 26 openers

The Kwantlen Eagles are getting ready to hit the court on Friday, Sept. 26, when both the men’s and the women’s basketball teams will play the first games of the new season, at the Kwantlen gymnasium in Surrey 

The women will play an exhibition game against the Douglas Royals at 6 p.m., and the men will be playing a Blaze exhibition game at 8 p.m.

It is coach Gary Pawluk’s and assistant coach Ivan Adrian’s first season coaching the women.

“It’s been a terrific situation so far and hopefully it will continue,” said Pawluk in a phone interview.

The women have played some competitive teams in the off-season, said Pawluk. “Competition in the league is strong and getting the girls to compete is always a challenge.”

Pawluk has been coaching basketball for three decades, and is enjoying the challenges of coaching a new team.“We’ve got a good blend as far as personnel wise,” he said and one of the challenges is to “get that team work and team chemistry to get to the point where we are growing and developing and getting better.”

The women’s team has 13 players, five of them rookies and eight returning players.

The men’s team is also looking forward to the season.

Hugh Lynn has been the assistant coach of the men’s team for four years, along with head coach Bernie Love, who has been coaching for seven. Gino Missana and Kevin Van Buskirk are first-year assistant coaches.

Lynn said he would like the team to come together with a “winning, positive attitude and realistic expectations.” 

He would like the team, who he said was in the lower half of the league, to try and “move up the ladder,” so they can “make the play offs and do the best that we can.”

He said the first week and a half of practices have shown some pleasant surprises, such as returning forward Mike Davis and new-to-the-team guard Omid Davini, who is “looking awful good awful early.”

Davis, who is returning to the team after taking time off to travel, said so far the team has great chemistry.

“We are a young team…we are fairly new to each other still, and I think over time it will come together really well, there might be some growing pains, but we’ll be okay.”

Only three of the 13 players on the team are returning players.

Davis says he is looking forward to playing Capilano College. “They play a fast-paced game and it’s a lot of fun to play that way,” and that he would like the Eagles to make the playoffs.

The season will culminate with provincial championships, Feb. 26-28, 2009, at Capilano College for both the men and women.