Earlier this week I covered the best college players from Australia and from the United Kingdom. Both of those teams are impressive, but now it's time for Canada.
That's a whole other level.
The obvious attention grabber in Canada has been Andrew Wiggins, but the depth of talent from the Great White North (Second City Television) or America's Hat (South Park) is staggering. It's not out of the question that the Canadian National Team could be winning Olympic medals in the very near future (their last medal was a silver in 1936).
The list is so extensive that for the first time we need to establish some ground rules. Or at least a ground rule. Should duel citizen players count? I haven't had to think too hard about that issue on the Australian or UK teams because it didn't matter. Yes, there were duel citizen players, but no, none of them would have made the team anyway.
In the end, these guys can play for Team Canada, so they're in. But I also have to think about positions more closely. This is a five man team after all, and they need to stand on their own. Which means that Kelly Olynyk bumps Jordan Bachynski. Sorry. And can Olivier Hanlan run the point?
Regardless, here it is, the 2012-13 All Canada Team.
Kelly Olynyk, 7-0 Junior, Gonzaga (17.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 123.3 oRtg)
Anthony Bennett, 6-8 Freshman, UNLV (16.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 114.0 oRtg)
Mark Trasolini, 6-9 Senior, Santa Clara (15.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 115.8 oRtg)
Nik Stauskus, 6-6 Freshman, Michigan (11.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 122.8 oRtg)
Junior Cadougan, 6-1 Senior, Marquette (8.5 ppg, 3.8 apg, 96.1 oRtg)
