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The Search For Pacific Gold

Published by CROWN staff on March 3, 2009

Matthew Lundy
Kamloops, BC

Gonzaga University has the definitive stronghold of Canadian high school basketball players among NCAA programs. Next fall, their line-up will boast four Canadian players, including a monopoly of British Columbia’s top players from the past three seasons.

The slew of Canadian talent starts with Rob Sacre of North Vancouver, currently a Gonzaga Bulldog sophomore. Next in line you’ll find the much embattled Bol Kong, formerly of Vancouver’s St. George’s Saints, and Mangisto Arop, whose developed his game with Edmonton’s Ross Sheppard High School and the National Elite Development Academy.

Photo By Ron Hole

The fourth installment of Canadian content is Kelly Olynyk, a versatile six-foot-10 forward who represents the South Kamloops Titans. Despite widespread acknowledgment as British Columbia’s top high school basketball player for the 2008-09 season, Olynyk’s on-court success only recently caught the attention of schools in the United States.

A significant amount of anonymity came from a devastating shoulder injury Olynyk suffered in grade 11 while playing quarterback for South Kamloops. He would be forced to sit on the sidelines for the duration of his junior season.

“The bone at the end of the humerus had broken right off,” says Olynyk. “Not many teams in the States were interested.”

Recruitment would become competitive following the successful rehabilitation of Olynyk’s shoulder and his roster spot on Canada’s Junior National Team. Some of the schools which clamoured for his basketball services included Syracuse, North Carolina State, and Providence.

Olynyk’s decision came down to Gonzaga’s playing style, its history of Canadian players, and proximity to Kamloops.

“[Gonzaga] play more up-tempo and not the traditional college style,” says Olynyk. “They get out and run.”

A free-flowing, offensive style of play should benefit Olynyk, whose game is built around the skills he acquired as a six-foot-three sophomore point guard. His subsequent growth spurts allowed Olynyk to combine a perimeter-oriented game with newfound post skills, an inside-outside combination rarely seen in British Columbia high school hoops.

“In high school I play the four [power forward], but I also play the point and handle the ball a lot,” says Olynyk. “I like to utilise vision and passing skills the way a Steve Nash or Jason Kidd would.”

His game also resembles that of future teammate Austin Daye, a California-native whose NBA draft status, in his sophomore season, has taken a nosedive from potential top-five aspirations. Unless Daye can find consistency in the final weeks of the NCAA season, he will likely return to Gonzaga for his junior season. Normally this would spell concern for an incoming freshman, yet Olynyk sees the opportunity as a positive.

“With [Daye] maybe not going in the draft, that might be better for me,” says Olynyk. “I can take something away from him before he goes to the NBA.”

In the meantime, Olynyk has unfinished business at the high school level. His South Kamloops Titans are poised to become the first team from outside the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, or Fraser Valley to win the B.C. AAA Championship since 1979.

“There are a lot of teams with potential to better us in the tournament,” says Olynyk. Some of the strongest competition, like most years, will come from teams in the Lower Mainland. Vancouver College, RC Palmer, Yale, and White Rock Christian will all contend when the provincial tournament kicks off on March 10th.

The key to victory, for Olynyk, boils down a team-wide committment to defence. “We’ll be able to score, but we’ve got to hold teams under 60 or 70 points,” says Olynyk.

If the Titans – currently ranked number one in British Columbia by The Province – continue their strong play, Olynyk, his teammates, and the Kamloops faithful will have plenty to cheer about.

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