Bears basketball team struggles to find consistency, while the Pandas battle for top spot in Canada West

Golden Bears

Life without legend Jordan Baker hasn’t been good to the Golden Bears basketball team. The Bears limped into winter break with four straight losses, and currently sit on the outside of the playoff picture with a 4-5 record. Facing a difficult schedule in the second half, the Bears are looking at an uphill battle when it comes to making the playoffs.

The tale of the first half of the Bears’ season can be summarized by one word: inconsistency. Through nine games, the Bears have already managed both a four game winning streak and a four game losing streak that has seen them fall from early favorites in Canada West to a team struggling to make the playoffs. While their record doesn’t look spectacular, the Bears have had some tough luck this season. Three of their five losses were by just six points or less, so they easily could be sitting nicely at the top of the Pioneer Division with a 7-2 record.

Unfortunately for the Bears, it doesn’t get easier from here. Of the 11 games they have remaining, only two of them are against a team lower than them in the standings — the miserable Brandon Bobcats. They play one more game against the Calgary Dinos, the top team in Canada West, and two games against both the Winnipeg Wesmen and Manitoba Bisons, the second and fourth best teams in the conference, respectively. While the schedule is difficult, the Bears were pegged as one of the teams to beat in Canada West at the beginning of the season for a reason and they should be able to turn the ship around and pull themselves back up the standings.

With 11 games to go and a 4-5 record, it’s unlikely the Bears will be able to climb up to the top of the Pioneer Division, but they certainly have the talent to put together a strong second half and grab a playoff spot.

Pandas

The Pandas basketball team has been nothing short of dominant so far this season, coming out of winter break with the best record in Canada West at 9-1. As of right now, the Pandas are easily favourites to win Canada West and compete at CIS Nationals.

The impressive thing about the Pandas’ season has been the way they go about winning, as five of their nine wins have been by double digits. The most impressive win of the season so far came in the team’s final game before heading into the break against the Calgary Dinos. The Pandas managed to completely smother a pretty solid Dinos squad, holding them to just 33 points in a massive 65-33 win.

The Pandas will take on a collection of bottom feeders in the second half of the season, including the Manitoba Bisons and the Winnipeg Wesmen, who are 3-7 and 1-9 on the season respectively. The key matchup on the Pandas’ calendar will be on Jan. 23 when they travel to Regina to take on the Rams.
With a relatively soft schedule to close out the year, the Pandas will battle neck-in-neck with the 8-2 Rams for top spot in the Pioneer Division, making their two-game set in late January the most important one of the Pandas’ season.