CYBL Session #3 Preview : Who are Come Back Teams?

Halfway through the Bantam Canadian Youth Basketball League (CYBL) season, and a lot of questions have been already raised and answered.

The first question that all of us can definitively answer is that CIA Bounce is the team to beat, as illustrated below. CIA went a perfect 4-0 while attaining a staggering point differential of +51.

Finally, the chart below llustrates the overall production of teams through two CYBL sessions.

CIA Bounce’s Addison Patterson, Damanni Browne, Shemar Rathan-Mayes, Joshua Morgan and Kobe Elvis also rank within the top 20 points per game leaders in the CYBL.

Now comes the tough part – who at the CYBL is capable of dethroning CIA Bounce and finally blemishing their perfect record?

CYBL Session #3 Preview

BURLINGTON LOOKING TO BECOME NUMBER ONE CONTENDER

With CIA Bounce being the only undefeated team left in the CYBL, who is the number one contender?

In session one, Canada Elite was making a case. However, after losing Cashius McNeilly to a broken wrist, they have fallen from the graces.

In session one, with McNeilly in the line up, Canada Elite scored 79 points per game.

In session two, without McNeilly, they dropped to 63 points per contest.

Their average points allowed has also fluctuated as they went from allowing 34 points in session one to 64 in session two, granted their opponents were much tougher in their second session.

Nevertheless, Canada Elite will have to find their swagger for the upcoming third session if they don’t want to continue their descent to the lower end of the CYBL standings.

So who will the number one contender be in the upcoming session?

My bet is Burlington.

I know in the first session, both CIA Bounce and Burlington played.

I also know that CIA Bounce severely outplayed Burlington beating them 71-48.

And one more time, I know YAAACE, Vaughan, and Can Elite could also knock off Bounce, albeit, they would have to play at 110% to accomplish such a feat.

But, and you knew a “but” was coming, Burlington has been the most consistent, and dominant team, especially during a tough session two, outside of CIA Bounce.

After going 3-1 with a point differential of +5 in the first session (a stat that can be skewed by a 23 point loss to Bounce), Burlington seems to be a much-improved squad in the second session.

They increased their point differential to +40 while going a perfect 4-0, including a 62-38 beat down of a very competitive UPLAY Canada team.

Burlington has the guard power, the coaching, and now the proven consistency to put up the biggest fight against Bounce.

WHO WILL BE THE BIGGEST BOUNCE BACK TEAM IN SESSION THREE?

Session two saw K-Elite, YAAACE and the Ancaster Magic make the biggest comebacks from their disappointing first sessions.

K-Elite and YAAACE both went 1-3 in the first session as they had a disappointing -4 and -11 point differential.

Ancaster, who finished at 2-2, also struggled for the most part in the first session, as they carried a -18 point differential into the second session.

However, all three teams, to the credit of their coaching staff and players, righted the ship during session two.

YAAACE went a perfect 4-0 (+33 point differential), while K-Elite (+41 point differential) and Ancaster (+11 point differential) finished at a very respectable 3-1.

These results beg the question- who will be the biggest comeback team of session three?

If I had to put my chips on a few of the strongest and most worthy teams, it would have to be the Mississauga Wolverines, and the Waterloo Warriors.

Mississauga, who lost their best player in Justice Salmon, had a disappointing second session finishing 1-3 after going 2-2 in session one.

The Wolverines second session was unforgiving, as they did have to play CIA Bounce and Burlington in back to back games- a tall task to ask from any team in the CYBL.

Things are slowly looking up for Mississauga, as they will be playing against more “middle of the pack” teams in the upcoming session.

Another hopeful benefit is the team is getting Salmon back, after he sat out session two with a severely sprained ankle and was in a walking boot.

Waterloo also had to contend with injured players and a tough schedule, as they didn’t muster a win in the second session, while getting beat by an average of 40 points a game.

But, if they are healthy, session three seems to be much brighter for the Warriors as they play Mississauga, Ancaster, Deen Up, CIA Bounce, giving them three out of four games which they can win.

Grade 6 Anyone?

Yes grade six.

I didn’t want to bleed into the much younger levels but when a team like Team Breakdown out of the GTA is putting on such a great show, I have to show them some love.

I’ll be taking a closer look into the program and why they have succeeded so greatly.

Session three is looking to shape up very nicely as it will be held in Richmond Hill, more specifically at Holy Trinity.

Full team schedules for session three and points per game leaders are now available at www.CYBL.ca.