14 March 30, 2011 + Over the Edge Inderbir Gill Player of the Year... Again T-Wolves fail to repeat, but Gill brings home more hardware BROCK CAMPBELL The UNBC men’s basketball team was unable to defend their national championship at the 2011 Canadian Colleges Athletic Association held March 17-19 in Oshawa, Ontario. The T-Wolves were eliminated from the championship round after losing to the Lethbridge Kodiaks in their opening game Nationals also marked the end of a storied career for UNBC’s most celebrated student-athlete Inderbir Gill. In his three years as UNBC’s starting point-guard, Gill has amassed numerous awards in recognition of talents. He is a two time winner of British Columbia Colleges Athletic Association Player of the Year Award, 2010 CCAA Athlete of the Year for all sports, BCCAA Championships Most Valuable Player, CCAA Championships MVP, and for the second consecutive season has been named CCAA Men’s Basketball Player of the Year, announced prior to this year’s nationals. Gill, who led the T-Wolves to UNBC’s first BCCAA and CCAA championships in 2010, would have much rather finished his career going out on top. “?m honoured by all the praise I’ve received,” Gill humbly said about his Player of the Year accolades and countless other achievements, “but I’d definitely give them all up for another national title.” Lethbridge, the second ranked team in the nation and eventual silver medalists, defeated UNBC 81-66 ending any hopes of a repeat. “It definitely leaves a sour taste given our success all season, and having been there before we knew what we had to do to win,” said Gill about UNBC’s post-season. “It’s been our goal from the start to win nationals, and then you play a bad twenty minutes and that’s your season.” Gill added that he and his teammates got off to a slow start and couldn’t score until late; something the T-Wolves had no problem doing throughout the year, having averaged ninety- three points a game. Gill, who is usually good for twenty points or more, uncharacteristically put up thirteen, all of which came in the second half. MLB 2011 Preview The boys of summer are back BROCK CAMPBELL SPORTS EDITOR The 2011 Major League Baseball regular season begins March 30". Have a look at who will be playing in October. (W) Denotes Playoff Wildcard American League AL East: With Boston and New York once again making some key acquisitions during the offseason, the best division in the majors isn’t getting any easier. The Red Sox added superstar Carl Crawford to their outfield and former Padres slugger Adrian Gonzalez to a lineup with lots of power already. Boston, who missed the playoffs last year, have one of the best starting rotations in the majors with Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Josh Beckett and John Lackey. As long as Lackey and Beckett perform better than their dismal 2010 seasons, the Sox will certainly clinch the AL East division and possibly the American League pennant. As for the Yankees they added perennial All-Star Andruw Jones to the outfield, and Canadian Russell Martin behind the plate, who will likely share catching duties with veteran Jorge Posada. Questions linger about the Yankees aging lineup and their starting pitching, but they should have enough left in the tank to clinch the AL Wildcard. The Yanks have two aces in Phil Hughes and C.C Sabathia, but all eyes will be on A.J Burnett after he finished last season with a 10-15 record. If his struggles continue in 2011, New York may look for a replacement. Derek Jeter will be out to prove he’s still got the magic touch at thirty-seven, after the Yankees, primarily concerned about his age, reluctantly re-signed him. The Kodiaks managed to stymie UNBC with several different defensive sets that Head Coach Todd Jordan said created a lot of problems for them offensively. Despite struggling to fill the net the T-Wolves led part way through the second quarter 28-23, however, the Kodiaks would finish the half with an 8- 0 run, putting Lethbridge up 31-28. The Kodiaks carried the momentum into the third, capitalizing on some easy transition buckets that gave them a 56-43 lead heading into the final frame. UNBC started to pour it on in the fourth, but it was too little too late, as the T-Wolves couldn’t close the deficit. Nationals concluded with the Vanier Cheetahs from Quebec taking home the CCAA banner. UNBC finished tied for fifth after beating host Durham College in the consolation round, but lost the bronze qualifier to Mount Saint Vincent of Halifax. With regards to UNBC’s season, Coach Jordan expressed his disappointment with the end result, but said, “Overall we had a successful season finishing 22-4, we just couldn’t play our best ball at the end.” Although he wishes his final season would have ended differently, there is no school Gill would have rather finished his career. “It's been great playing here, I’m really glad | came,” said Gill who transferred to UNBC after playing two years in the United States. “I got to play with the best group of guys who I’m really close with, it was definitely a good choice coming here.” It was also an honour for Coach Jordan to have Gill as a player. Jordan said, “Inderbir’s been a dream to coach. He’s obviously had a lot of success as a player, but he’s also a great individual off the court.” After Gill graduates this year he plans to continue playing basketball professionally overseas. He doesn’t know where, but he jokingly says it will be with whoever will take him. Judging by the player Gill has been here at UNBC, any team will be lucky to have him. It's the same old story for Toronto, another solid Blue Jays roster in an extremely competitive division means once again no postseason. Toronto, which hasn’t made the playoffs since Joe Carter’s homer clinched the 1993 World Series, has a ton of power throughout its batting order that led the majors in home runs with 257in 2010, but had the third worst on- base percentage in the American League . A lot of pressure will be on re-signed Jose Bautista who hit fifty-four dingers, but Aaron Hill and Adam Lind will also need to knock in more runs. The Jays did add some speed to the top of the order by picking up Rajai Davis from the Athletics. Davis, who stole fifty bases for the A’s last season, should help the Jays run production. An already young pitching staff, led by Ricky Romero and Brett Cecil, may get younger as twenty-three year old Kyle Drabek is expected to make the rotation. With a team ERA of 4.22, the eighth highest in the majors in 2010, the Jays will need to produce a lot of runs to make a bid for the playoffs; also the loss of Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay won't help. 1) Boston Red Sox 2) New York Yankees (W) 3) Tampa Bay Rays 4) Toronto Blue Jays 5) Baltimore Orioles AL Central: The Minnesota Twins have owned the Central Division two seasons in a row, and have done so without former American League MVP Canadian Justin Morneau in the lineup for the better part of both seasons. If Morneau has completely recovered from his season ending concussion in 2010 and remains healthy during 2011, the Twins should have no problem clinching the central division and will look to advance beyond the division series, something they have failed to do two years running. They'll also need All-Star PHOTO COURTESY OF ALLAN FOURNIER 2011 CCAA player of the year Inderbir Gill at the Nationals catcher Joe Mauer to recover from a disappointing 2010 campaign, where Mauer only hit nine homers and batted in seventy-five runs, down from his 2009 numbers where he hit twenty-eight dingers and had ninety five RBI's. The Tigers and White Sox may contend with the Twins for the division title, but don’t expect any surprises. The Sox picked up DH Adam Dunn, who hit thirty-nine home runs and 103 RBI’s last season for the Nationals. However, Chicago’s pitching needs to be more consistent to get past Minnesota. John Danks was the only member of the rotation with a winning record at 15-11, and supposed ace Mark Buerhle finished at 13-13. Detroit on the other hand has the pitching, and the talent to make a push for the playoffs. On the mound, the Tigers are led by perennial Cy Young candidate Justin Verlander and upstart Max Scherzer who will definitely improve on his 12-11 2010 record. At the plate the Tigers have early MVP candidate Miguel Cabrera who led the majors in RBI’s last season with one-hundred twenty-six. Cabrera will need some help producing runs, Brandon Inge was second in RBI's for the Tigers with seventy. 1) Minnesota Twins 2) Detroit Tigers 3) Chicago White Sox 4) Kansas City Royals 5) Cleveland Indians AL West: The AL West Division title is usually reserved for the Los Angeles Angels who won the division three years in a row before 2010. When Angels star first baseman Kendry Morales went down with an injury last season the Angels slumped, opening the door for the Rangers. The addition of Vernon Wells from Toronto may fill the void in the Angels batting