Stepping stones
to stepping up

> Men's basketball shows everyone

how to peak properly

Davie Wong
Sports Editor

 

t’s been quite the journey for the

Douglas College Royals men’s
basketball team. From the highest of
highs, to the lowest of lows, this season
had a bit of everything. While the
dynamics of the preseason and the past
season pointed towards a middle of
the pack struggle, the Royals ended up
surprising everyone.

When coach Denis Beausoleil
announced his departure from the
team at the end of last season’s playoff
run, it caught most people off guard.
He had just brought in several strong
building block pieces, and the Royals
were looking like they could be poised

for a deep run in the next couple of years.

But as the wheel turned, it would end
up being Joe Enevoldson who picked up
where Beausoleil left off.

For the players and the team, the
transition to Enevoldson’s defence-
first play-style was difficult. Beausoleil
had brought in the Derton brothers,
who, while great on the transition and
fantastic on the break, struggled in a set
defensive style. The team moved from
playing a heavy 2-1-2 press to much
more zone defence. The transitional
aspect of the team still remained, and
they were fantastic if they could get a

couple of picks from the zone defence

to spring the offence, but they generally
struggled if they were caught in a five-
man zone defence. To make it even more
plain, the team went from trying to score
the most points, to trying to be the team
that conceded the least. That is never
ever going to be an easy transition.

And it showed. The team struggled
in the first third of the season. Their
cadence was off, as was their marking,
and even sometimes their zone. But then
winter break came. A whole month of
nothing but practice. The team went
hard, and the players gave it all they had.
It really paid off. They came into January,
and more importantly February, a new
team. Every game saw them improve,
and every result was a stepping stone to
their goal.

When playoffs came around, that’s
when everything started to wrap up for
the team. A big win against the Quest
Kermodes saw them move on. A tough
loss to VIU was the dark spot on the
tournament, but they upset the Langara
Falcons the next day—which is always
an amazing feeling, I’m told—to win
bronze. It was something | pinned for
the team in the offseason, but I didn’t
quite expect the journey it would take to
get there.

In terms of individual accolades,
Grant Campbell finally got that First
Team All-Star I had him pegged for last

year. Malcolm Mensah got a Second
Team All-Star nod in his final year of
eligibility. Rookie Lambert Pajayon
earned an All Rookie Team nod for

his performance this year as well. But
perhaps the breakout player of the year,
the player who had the biggest impact
for the Royals, was Reese Morris. Morris
missed the first half of the season, and
took some time to get started once he
was back on the court. However, when

Dream turned nightmare

> Was Leicester City right to fire Claudio Ranieri?

Davie Wong
Sports Editor

 

t has been about a month since

Leicester City was in the Premier
League limelight once again. Last year,
it was because the team was defying
5000-1 odds. This time, it was because
they had just fired the man who helped
them defy those odds.

After what could only be described
as an awful performance in the Premier
League in the first 25 games, head coach
Claudio Ranieri was unceremoniously
fired from his position. The move came
after the team had an inspiring 2-1 loss
against Spanish La Liga side Valencia
in the Champions League. Many have
speculated that the decision was made
before Ranieri stepped foot into that
game, and had more to do with the
team’s domestic struggles than anything.

That would make the most sense.
In 25 games, the Foxes had a record of
5 wins, 6 draws, and 14 losses, for an
underwhelming 21 points. While the
team was doing remarkably well in
Europe, they were drowning at home.
They faced the reality of a relegation
dogfight in February. What was probably
the last straw for Ranieri’s time with
the Leicester team was their 2-0 loss to
fellow relegation candidates Swansea

City. That would be my best guess.

Ranieri’s departure was met with
mixed feelings. Many managers were
shocked at Ranieri’s dismissal. Chelsea’s
Jurgen Klopp called the decision to fire
Ranieri “strange,” considering the man
just defied 5000-1 odds not a year earlier.
Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho
was particularly outspoken about the
decision to fire Ranieri, calling out the
organization, the team, and the owners
for their selfishness. He wore the initials
CR on his press jacket for a couple of
showings and hailed Ranieri’s win of the
Premier League as an amazing feat.

All around the world, soccer fans
made their opinions known, with
the majority of them being in favor
of Ranieri. How do you fire the man
who led your team to victory against
such impossible odds? Lightning has
nearly twice more the chance of hitting
you than Leicester did of winning the
Premier League. There was much more
than luck that came together for the
Foxes’ big win. That was the feeling
fans around the world echoed. That’s
what my heart said, too. But looking at
the move in hindsight, I feel it was the
right one. While the team was doing
well in Europe, they were knee deep in
a relegation battle at home that they
were losing. Twenty-one points on the
season put them in a vicious pit fight for

survival at the bottom of the standings.
Nearly five teams were just a couple
points off from each other, and every
point matters in February. And it wasn’t
working for Leicester. The Foxes were
struggling in January, failing to score at
all. That held up in the first two weeks
of February, and if you don’t score, you
don’t win.

The team was asleep, and they
needed a wake-up call, badly. Rumours
have it that Ranieri lost the confidence of
the team, and lost his voice in the locker
room. The players weren't hearing him
anymore, and upper management was
hearing all of it.

When that happens, it forces your
hand as an owner. What do you do?

Let the team continue to be asleep

and discontent? Continue to struggle
with no real safety? The difference
between Premier League money and
the Championships (one level lower) is
unbelievable. It’s unlikely that Leicester
would be able to even function in the
Championships. With that much money
on the line, they had to do something.
The January transfer window closed;
nothing happened; the team continued
to lose. They gave Ranieri all the time
they could before they had to make the
decision. I doubt it was an easy one,
either. But it was the right one.

The wake-up call worked. Under

 

Photo via Douglas College Student Services on flickr.com

he got going, Morris was impossible to
stop. A board machine, Morris added the
physicality and technicality the Royals
needed to push them to a new level.

He was essential in the Royals’ bronze
medal win, and played out of his mind
all tournament.

Although the team will be losing a
couple of pieces this year, I’m confident
that the team that returns will be able to
compete at the highest levels.

caretaker manager Craig Shakespeare,
the team has flourished. Four huge wins
saw them advance to the Champions
League quarterfinal for the first time
in the history of the club. But more
importantly, it sees them shoot up in
the Premier League standings. They sit
at 15th with 30 points, a cushy 6-point
(two-game) lead from the nearest
relegation team, Hull City. The Foxes
are finally scoring again. They look
absolutely reminiscent of the team that
captured the hearts of so many last year.
Firing Claudio Ranieri was not only
the right move, it was the move that
needed to happen. While he does share
fault in his release, the lion’s share of
the fault belongs to the players, such as
N’Golo Kante and his Brutus-esqe move
to Chelsea, and Jamie Vardy, who did
more talking than scoring this season.
Everyone on that team let Ranieri down,
and it cost him his job. Evidently, they
realize that and have awoken to the rude
reality that is soccer, but it was too late.
Claudio Ranieri will always go down
in Premier League history as one of the
men to accomplish the greatest of great
feats. Nearly everything Leicester has
is thanks to him. While he will always
be one of my favourite personalities,
Leicester needed a change, and even in
his departure, Ranieri was the only one
who could do it for them.