Men

The Varsity Blues men’s basketball team is 8–4 at the midway point of the season, sitting in second place in the OUA East and looking to lock up a first-round playoff bye.

The Blues have been taking the OUA by storm, surprising every team in the league, except for themselves, that is.

“Although a lot of people doubted us, we always believed in ourselves and believed we had the pieces to put a good season together,” said Blues forward Alex Hill.

“We’re definitely doing better than the preseason polls had predicted us to,” added veteran point guard Anthony DeGiorgio.

Carleton was predicted to top the OUA East once again with Ottawa, Ryerson, and York finishing higher than Toronto by the end of the season. All three, however, have records below .500, while only Toronto has a winning record.

Assistant Coach Mike DeGiorgio is not at all surprised by the team’s performance.

“As a coaching staff this is where we expected our guys to be because we expect them to play at a high level all the time,” he stated. “To outside observers this is probably not where they expected us to be. A lot of preseason polls were picking us to finish fifth or sixth in the OUA East, and we knew that that wasn’t where we were supposed to be.”

After a quick glance at the standings, most people would be licking their chops after seeing the Blues’ competition for the second half of the season.

Laurentian is tied with York for third at 6–7. Ottawa, Ryerson, Queen’s, and RMC, who have a total of 11 wins combined, follow them. U of T plays Carleton and Ottawa once more, and have two games against the others.

Anthony DeGiorgio is quick to point out that the Blues are not paying any attention to what the standings say.

“We can’t look at their records. We need to look at their personnel and what they’re capable of,” he said. “Like [Head Coach Mike Katz] said, when it’s conference play it’s a totally different ball game. It’s more important because you see both teams twice, and the second game is always tougher because of adjustments.”

Mike DeGiorgio stated that the records of their opponents can’t fool Toronto, “Records don’t mean anything at this point in the season. You go on the road anywhere in the OUA East and you’re going to be in a tough game.”

So what is it going to take for the Blues to reach their regular season goal of securing home court advantage with a first-round bye?

“I think what’s going to be tough is not getting complacent,” said Anthony DeGiorgio. “Taking every single game and not underestimating anybody.”

“We also need to play our game and not play into the hands of our opponent,” added Hill.

All season coach Katz and his staff has been pressing the mentality of ‘win by committee,’ and it has reaped enormous benefits thus far.

Four players are averaging double figures in scoring, with two others close behind. Only Ryerson has four double-digit scorers, but they provide all of their points, as their lineup is filled in with two and three point per game players.

“I think win by committee works well for our team because we have a lot of talented guys with no true superstar who lights it up every single game,” said Mike DeGiorgio. “Win by committee is what we’re striving to get to as long as everyone continues to execute and keep up the level of play throughout the season.”

Though Mike DeGiorgio praises the team’s success at this point of the season, he also believes that the players have not reached their full potential.

“I think everybody has room for improvement, especially defensively,” he said. “We have traditionally been one of the better defensive teams in the conference, and even though we’re scoring more and have a pretty good record, we’re giving up a lot more points than we usually do. Defensively we need to live up to expectations a little bit more and be more consistent on that end of the court.”

The Blues head out on the road to take on York and then Laurentian this weekend to wrap up a four-game road trip. If Toronto can take both games, they will be in a very good position to lock up second place as they end the season with seven of their last 10 games at home. Doing so would give them a first-round bye, and greatly improve their chances at getting to the CIS Championships.

“Obviously nationals is a great goal for us to have,” said Hill, “but that is a long way away and we need to take this season game by game and day by day or that goal will never be reached.”

Women

Before the season began, the Varsity Blues women’s basketball team had a goal of finishing on top of the OUA East.

As it stands, the Blues are 9–4 and hold second place, behind Carleton (10–2).

“One of our main goals coming into this season was to remain on top of the OUA east division and eventually make nationals,” said forward Megan Stoncius. “However, due to minor mental mistakes and lack of effort at times we have fallen behind in the East.”

An example of what Stoncius meant was evident in Toronto’s two games to open the OUA East portion of the 2010–11 season. The Blues suffered one-point losses to Ottawa and Carleton, respectively.

“[That] weekend in isolation was not reflective of our capabilities and was not consistent with how we have been playing up to that point,” said veteran guard Erin McNeely. “Those close one-point games last weekend were probably a blessing in disguise and will allow us to grow and make adjustments so we can be that much stronger mentally for what is to come later on in the season.”

Despite their record, the Blues still have a very good chance to take the OUA East crown, so long as they can play to their potential and put in a complete effort in their remaining games.

The Blues lead the OUA East with 68.2 points scored per game, and are third best defensively, allowing only 59.1 points by the opposition per game.

The Blues will have to play Ottawa and Carleton once more, with both games being held at the Varsity Centre. Their remaining seven games, however, are going to be against sub-.500 teams.

“I believe we can go undefeated for the next games if we stick to game-plan and give continuous defensive effort,” said Stoncius. “Everyone has a role which they need to fulfill, and when everyone sticks to the game plan things go well.”

“The first half of the season was about testing the waters, finding out who works well together and what works for us as a team,” said McNeely of the OUA West portion of the schedule. “It really is a whole new season now and playing time and roles are varying and teams are starting to scout more closely.”

After winning last weekend’s games against both York and Laurentian, Toronto will play seven of their last nine games at home, which will be a huge boost for the team. Playing at home, however, doesn’t mean it will be a walk in the park for the Blues. “[I]t will come down to our execution and ability to read the defense and make the right decisions because the other teams will be anticipating our moves,” continued McNeely. “It will also come down to mental toughness because there will be a lot of close games, crowds and pressure. It will come down to who goes the extra mile and does all the little things right.”

“I do believe the goal of nationals is still very much in reach,” added Stoncius. “[Our] keys to success include: 40 minutes of defensive effort, sacrificing your body, more confidence on offense, always running the floor, and finding more scorers.”

What Stoncius is implying when she says that U of T needs more scorers is that they need to find someone other than veteran forward Nicki Schutz to put the ball in the hoop during crunch time.

Schutz is second in the OUA with 10.5 rebounds per game, and is averaging a double-double, but the other players need to fill in whenever opposing defenses find a way to contain Schutz.

“She always has at least one and a half girls on her all the time,” said McNeely, “so if we can hit some shots it’ll be good for everybody.”

The Blues have had their time to experiment and tinker with lineups, matchups, and systems. At this point of the season, with a playoff berth and possibly a first round bye on the line, it will take effort and execution for them to succeed.

“I believe we have the potential to beat all the teams in the East, we are very talented but do not always come to play,” said Stoncius. “As a team we need to find consistent effort if we want to make it to the next level.”

“I think that we have a lot of talent and depth, which makes it particularly difficult for us to be stopped because on any given night we can get great performances out of anyone,” continued McNeely. “In this half of the season it will be about everyone finding their role on the team and producing optimally. That is the key to us coming together.”

Stoncius agrees, and believes that the team needs to take a minute to reflect, “Our team just needs to realize how talented we really are and play to our strengths.”

The Blues begin a four-game home-stand, starting with this weekend’s games against RMC and Queen’s. During the last nine games of the season the Blues believe that if they leave it all out on the floor, they will reap the rewards.