The University of Victoria men’s basketball team became national champions over the weekend for the first time in more than two and a half decades.
They took the U SPORTS Final 8 win on Sunday (March 16) with a 82-53 win over the University of Calgary.
Head coach Murphy Burnatowski said he doesn’t think he’s ever seen his team as locked in as they were yesterday.
“We just had a lot of talent,” he said. “We just really strived to play together, and that was our mantra the entire year.”
He said the celebration was amazing after many of the players had worked hard throughout the COVID-19 years and endured comments that they couldn’t get the big win.
He also commented on an athlete whose time as a player was cut short by injury: Diego Maffia. Burnatowski said he went on to support the team as an assistant coach.
“People always say I can’t believe you won without Diego, and I have to tell them we didn’t win anything without Diego. We wouldn’t have been there without Diego. The reason we were there was because we had the help of Diego.”
As for next year, Burnatowski said the team will continue with the approach that has been working.
Burnatowski spoke on CFAX 1070 with Al Ferraby today (March 17):