Welcome to part two of getting you prepared for the 2023 Winnipeg Sea Bears inaugural season! In this piece, I will be going over the other CEBL teams and where the Sea Bears fit in with the rest of the other nine squads. I will be giving you players to watch on each team, along with ways in which the Sea Bears can attack specific matchups to gain advantages. The CEBL’s official betting sponsor BetVictor has the Sea Bears with the eighth best odds to win the championship. If we use those odds as predicted league-wide standings, they would then be slated to finish in eighth place. That would also mean the Sea Bears would secure a play-in playoff spot. I will provide my thoughts below on where I think the Sea Bears will finish. Little spoiler alert: I think they finish a little higher than that.

Brampton Honey Badgers

The reigning 2022 champions are ready to run it back and attempt a repeat. If they were to do so, they would be the second team to win two straight after the Edmonton Stingers did it in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The Honey Badgers do return many of the players from their squad last season. One of the most important names is Christian Vital. The 6’2” sharpshooting guard from New York was top 15 in scoring last season. He is also coming off of a good season in the G-League with Salt Lake City. Not to mention he was the CEBL Finals MVP in last years championship run. Be prepared for Vital to have some huge games this year. Another name to be aware of is Jeremiah Tilmon Jr. The 6’10” forward is another returnee from the 2022 team. He is a steady presence inside that will stabilize the Honey Badgers offence. He led the league in field goal percentage and was top five in blocked shots. He will be another integral part of the Honey Badgers attempting to repeat. The way in which I see the Sea Bears having a chance to beat Brampton is using their own size. The Honey Badgers have a lot of guards on their roster, meaning that the Sea Bears can attack with the height they have on their roster.

Niagara River Lions

According to BetVictor, the River Lions are the favourite to win this years CEBL championship. In my opinion, they have a little bit of a mountain to climb to do so, but the River Lions do have one of the best opportunities to lift the trophy. They do not have league leading scorer Khalil Ahmad, but do return many players from last years roster. One of the most recognizable names on this River Lions roster, is Phil Scrubb. Scrubb had been a main stay in the Canadian National Team for many years, and has plenty of experience in this league as well. He is a good scorer, and can shoot the ball well. Considered to be one of the best U-Sports players of all time, Scrubb will be an integral part for River Lions. One of the better additions that Niagara made to this roster is Shaquille Keith. The 6’6” forward played for the now defunct Newfoundland Growlers and was their second leading scorer. He was also third on the team in steals per game. Keith will be a very positive addition to this roster that is looking to best their third place position. When the Sea Bears take on the River Lions this season, I can see them trying to lock down Scrubb with Okafor and attempting to take his impact out of the game. Niagara and Winnipeg have similar size, which I think will benefit the Sea Bears more because of the style coach Mike Taylor is wanting to play with.

Scarborough Shooting Stars

This is the team I am afraid of. The 2022 runners up have reloaded, looking poised to get back to the championship game and have it end with a different outcome. This team has so much scoring, it is ridiculous. The Stars bring back Kassius Robertson, a proven scorer, as well as they have brought in Thomas Kennedy from Vancouver. The craziest thing is Kennedy isn’t even the best signing Scarborough made. We will first begin by talking about the best returning player, Jalen Harris. A top three scorer in the league last season, Harris knows how to fill up the bucket. He’s done it here in the CEBL, the G-League, and even in a short stint with the Toronto Raptors in the NBA. He is the biggest threat on this team, and will be a problem for the entire league. The scoring doesn’t stop at Harris either. The Shooting Stars were able to even bring in Cat Barber from the Calgary Surge (formerly the Guelph Knighthawks). Another top 10 scorer last season, making this offence for the Stars the most potent in the league. Be prepared for every single game they play in to have a very high score at the end. When the Sea Bears face the Shooting Stars on June 2nd, it will be a tough matchup. Harris and Barber are not great three point shooters, which is the only area I believe the Sea Bears can take advantage of.

Montréal Alliance

This team is difficult to get a read on. They only won four games last season, but have added some good talent to try and best their record. BetVictor doesn’t think they will do much better this year, having the Alliance as the team with the lowest odds to win the championship. Their biggest signing of the offseason was bringing in Ahmed Hill. A lethal scorer, who is a great shooter from deep. Be prepared for many of the Alliance possessions to run through Hill. Another important signing that was made was bringing in Treveon Graham. Graham has NBA and G-League experience, and is a very good two-way player. He will have impact on the offensive and defensive end. Overall I think that the Sea Bears have a better roster than the Alliance and I do believe they will finish higher than Montréal in the final standings. Keeping Hill in check will be the biggest key to seeing a Sea Bears victory.

Ottawa Blackjacks

The final team to take a look at in the Eastern Conference are the Ottawa Blackjacks. The only other team to finish under .500 last season, the Blackjacks have an interesting roster. Their most important returnee is Deng Adel. Being on the roster last season, Adel will bring back stability, good scoring and fill up the stat sheet as well. One of the new additions to the roster Elijah Pemberton, is another name to be aware of on this Blackjacks roster. Pemberton is another scorer, and one that can shoot the ball very well. He was playing with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA G-League this season, which will most definitely help him in having success this season. My thought process when it comes to the Sea Bears taking on the Blackjacks is the same as the Alliance. Winnipeg matches up well to Ottawa, and must do their best to keep Adel in check. If that can happen, there is a good chance of a Sea Bears win.

Calgary Surge

The first team we will dive into in the Western Conference are the Calgary Surge. Having moved after last season from Guelph, the Surge have an intriguing roster. They bring back high upside forward Maurice Calloo who I am interested in, but also one new signing and a sort of returnee. The newest player on the Surge roster is guard Kyler Edwards. The Arlington, Texas native had a very good career in the NCAA with the Houston Cougars and Texas Tech Red Raiders. He is also coming off of a decent season in the G-League. Edwards has a chance to be a star in this league, and I think he will do so, trying to replace Cat Barber. The “returnee” that the Surge bring back is Justin Jackson. Jackson played in the CEBL back in 2021 for a couple games, with this same franchise. With the potentiality of a full season, I think that Jackson will be quite successful. While looking at the three matchups the Sea Bears will have against the Surge, the plan of attack they must have is try and use speed. Calgary has a lot of height and size, which I think the Sea Bears can use against them and be a more physical team.

Edmonton Stingers

Here is another puzzling team, the Edmonton Stingers. They have the third highest odds to win the championship according to BetVictor, but I am not too sure if that is at all right. They do not have a scorer returning higher than 13 points a game, or a big proven success in the league. They did use two of their American signings slots on very good, impact players. The first of which is Lucas Williamson. You may know who Williamson is because of his run with the Loyola Chicago Ramblers in the NCAA. He was a bench piece apart of their 2018 Final Four run. Williamson is a lockdown defender, who can completely shut down anyone from the 1-3. He will be a key part in slowing down a lot of the high scoring guards in this league. The other American signing that caught my attention was Carlton Braag Jr. Braag can score inside, and rebound quite well. After struggling early in college with the Kansas Jayhawks, and early on in Europe, each time he has had a change of scenery, Braag has succeeded. I do hope he can acclimatize quickly, and succeed in the CEBL as well. The Stingers and Sea Bears will play each other three times and will be slugfests each time. I do believe the Sea Bears can beat them by trying to outscore them.

Saskatchewan Rattlers

I will call it right now, the league is going to try everything it can to continue the Saskatchewan vs. Winnipeg rivalry. The Rattlers will be around the level of the Sea Bears this season, which could help this rivalry grow with it being competitive. They have players on their roster in which management is hoping can take the next step and elevate their play. The big addition the Rattlers made was bringing in sharpshooter Drake Jeffries. He shoots threes at a high percentage, on a high volume. Saskatchewan has said they want to build a roster around three point shooting, and this is a signing that confirms that. A name that you should be aware of for this season is Anthony Tsegakele. A former first round pick in the U-Sports draft, the 6’6” forward had another monster season with the Brandon Bobcats. He was a top 15 scorer and top 5 rebounder in the entire country. He is a monster at the university level and going into his second professional season, I can see him breaking out and finding a big role on this Rattlers team. This entire team can shoot the ball, meaning if the Sea Bears can force tough pullups and difficult shots there is a good chance we see a couple wins against Saskatchewan.

Vancouver Bandits

We end with the host of this years CEBL Championship and the Sea Bears first ever opponent. They boast an interesting roster that I believe will surprise some. I have faith they will sit inside the top four of the total league standings. The most important returnee is Shane Gibson. Gibson was an integral piece to the Bandits offence last season, scoring and shooting the ball very efficiently. Once again this season, he will be an important piece to the Bandits. One of the American import slots the Bandits used was on DJ Steward. The former five star recruit from Duke had another decent season in the G-League for the Stockton Kings. Steward is better getting to the rim, but has found his stroke from behind the arc this season. He does require the ball in his hands to be at his best. This will be a challenge returning coach Kyle Julius will need to figure out with trying to maximize Gibson and Steward at the same time. When the Sea Bears open their season against the Bandits, it will be interesting to see how these two teams matchup. It could be as easy as minimizing Gibson and Steward. But the role players the Bandits have could cause issues for Winnipeg.

Final Thoughts

Before the season begins tonight between the Brampton Honey Badgers and Ottawa Blackjacks, I want to give my thoughts on where I think the Sea Bears will finish this season. They have been predicted to finish towards the bottom of the standings in their inaugural season, but I do believe the season will go better than that. Already not being predicted last is good, but this roster management has constructed is quite solid with many good pieces. My belief is that the Sea Bears will finish top six in the entire league. In the Western Conference I believe they finish third, behind the Bandits and Calgary Surge.

The final input I will have is how I think the rotation will look like this season.

Starting lineup:

PG: Glen Yang

SG: Teddy Allen

SF: A.J. Hess

PF: Simon Hildebrandt

C: Chad Posthumus

6th Man: Michael Okafor

The inaugural season for the Winnipeg Sea Bears begins on May 27th at the Canada Life Centre. Basketball is back in the city and I can’t wait to cover this team the entire season!