The VIU Mariners men and women both finished first in the regular season in the 2023-24 PACWEST campaign. Both squads are looking to go deeper in provincial and national tournaments in 2024-25. (VIU Mariners)

By Dan Marshall

New Beginnings

VIU Mariners expect to be national contenders in men’s and women’s CCAA basketball

Oct 20, 2024 | 10:05 AM

NANAIMO — The VIU Mariners begin their basketball season at home on Oct. 18.

Both the women and men play Okanagan to begin their journey through the PACWEST and they hope it all culminates with a CCAA national championship.

Both squads finished 20-4 in the 2023-24 regular season with the women finishing third at provincials and the men winning the PACWEST but finishing seventh at nationals.

Men’s coach Matt Kuzminski hopes to make a deeper run at nationals this time around.

“We’re trying to be the most competitive team we can be and compete for a national championship. I think with the group of guys we’ve got, with the depth we have, with the returning fourth and fifth year guys, we have the right mix of experience, leadership and depth.”

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Women’s coach Tony Bryce coached teams to national gold in 2023 and national silver in 2022 and he believes the Mariners can contend again.

“We’ve got some new pieces, we’ve got several returning pieces and now it’s about gelling that together to try and get back to a national tournament. We didn’t reach that goal last year and that’s our goal every year. We’ve got to correct some things from last year and be better in some areas.”

The men will have some key veterans who will lead the way this season.

“We return Kai Leighton, Noah Lehto and Ryan Bastian,” Kuzminski said. “Those three guys were captains, they have experience with the team for multiple years and they bring leadership back to the team. Kameron Bender from the NWAC (Northwest Athletic Conference), he has some great experience as well winning an NWAC Championship with Queen River Community College.”

Coach believes a deep bench for the women’s team will be a major strength this season.

Our strength is our depth. I think we have multiple weapons and people that can get you. I think that’s going to be our M-O. We’ve just got to share the ball and work to get a good shot for us, understanding we have multiple people who can score and nobody necessarily needs to score.”

The Mariners play at home at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m against Okanagan on Oct. 18 starting with the women’s game.

They host Okanagan again on Oct. 19 at 11 a.m and 1 p.m.

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