DORIAN GEIGER
Sports Editor

Nine will be the Huskies men’s basketball team’s lucky number heading into the new Canada West season.

Out of the 43 basketball teams competing in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, the Huskies are ranked 9th heading into the new season — an impressive feat considering basketball boasts more teams than any other CIS sport.

After being dealt a quick departure from last year’s Canada West playoffs by the Alberta Golden Bears, the Huskies opened up their season on Nov. 6 and 7 with 91-68 and 99-91 wins over the Brandon Bobcats at the Physical Activity Complex.

The Huskies women’s basketball squad also soundly defeated Brandon over the weekend by scores of 71-55 and 75-52.

Ending the season on a subpar 10-12 record in the Central Division and making a brief postseason cameo was not what men’s head coach Greg Jockims had in mind for the Dogs last year. However, Jockims could have never anticipated the death of Huskies player Brennan Jarrett in the middle of the season either; there definitely were some dark demons haunting the Huskies throughout last season.

“I thought we had a good team last year and did very well for the personnel that we had. We had a tragedy through the middle of the year with one of the guys (Jarrett) passing away. We had a lot of challenges to deal with,” said Jockims.

Jarrett, an engineering student at the U of S, was fighting for a spot in the starting line up with the Prairie Dogs when testicular cancer robbed the 19-year-old of his life in December 2008. Though Jarrett may be physically gone, he is very much alive as a form of inspiration on the court and in the locker room for the Huskies.

To Jockims, Jarrett’s personality, athleticism and love for the game will forever live on in Huskies basketball history — and to boot there’s a new dressing room in the works to show the respect and commemorate the late player.

“He’s still with all of us. I knew him very well and his parents and family are still heavily involved with us and we’re doing some major team room renovations in his name. It’s a thing that goes on but it’s certainly something that will affect us for the rest of our lives.

It was not all negative for Jockims’s squad though; last season the Green and White were in a phase of rebuilding after losing five core players the previous year, so managing to make the playoffs was a good accomplishment in itself.

“I think the team did exceptionally well considering all the challenges that we faced and to win as many as we did and be a really tough team in Canada West. We have a lot of those guys back and the talent is upgraded.”

The Huskies were also able to score some offensive depth last season in the form of Huskies rookie sensation and point guard Showron Glover. The Huskies will continue to look for offensive dominance with Glover, who recorded a Canada West leading 24.9 points per game in last year’s campaign. The 548 points the Fresno, Calif. native put on the board in 2008-09 also landed Glover a fifth place spot in the Canada West record for most points scored by an individual in a season.

Glover’s polished abilities will be supplemented by the addition of Michael Linklater, who is returning to the Prairie Dogs’ line-up after a four year absence.

“They’re both very good dynamic guards with similar skill sets so they’re tough to deal with,” Jockims said in reference to the duo. “One guy you can maybe deal with but that leaves the other guy open.”

The fifth-year Linklater and second-year Glover will make a lethal combination on the court this season and combined for 91 points in the weekend contests against the Bobcats.

The Huskies should be on pace to live up to their No. 9 ranking and Jockims doesn’t feel too many major kinks need to be ironed out of the Huskies’ game plan after the weekend games against Brandon. However, Jockims did stress the importance of the Dogs working toward a more aggressive defence.

“Particularly in the defensive end I think we can do better,” said Jockims. “Rebounding is a strength but we can always do better and just try to execute better in the offensive end.”

Jockims already has his sights set on placing well in the Canada West and the head coach is ambtious to move beyond what the Huskies accomplished last year.

“The main goal is to get into playoffs and then trying to host playoffs is the second goal. The third goal is to try and get to the Canada West Final Four.”

Both the men’s and women’s Huskies basketball teams hit the west coast and go back to work against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds and the University of Victoria Vikes on Nov. 13 and 14 before returning to Saskatoon to face off against the Calgary Dinos on Nov. 20 and 21. The Huskies women’s team also enters the season impressively ranked as No. 2 in CIS.

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photo: Robby Davis