Wyatt Haux believes that he and his Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) Trojan teammates could have won a Canadian collegiate basketball title this season.
The Trojans won the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference basketball championship earlier this month, their fourth consecutive championship. Haux, who plays centre and shooting guard on the team, has been a part of the last two championships.
But their hopes of winning a national championship were dashed last week when the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association cancelled nationals as concern grows over the COVID-19 virus.
It was a tough blow for the Trojans, who have been building towards nationals since the start of the school year in September.
“We were staying focused and everything, and it would have been pretty great to be rewarded at the end of the year,” said Haux.
The Trojans were ready from the start of the season, Haux said. Head coach Marty Birky did a good job of recruiting this year, which brought in some quality talent.
“We went in and we all just worked hard. We ended up with a tougher mindset than all the other teams.”
They had close games, but many of their victories came in lopsided fashion.
The Trojans also had redemption on their minds. Last year’s team lost their first game at nationals, ending any hope they had of winning a Canadian title. They wound up in seventh.
At least six players were back from last year’s team.
“I thought we were going to win the national championship, to be honest,” said Haux. “We had a great team and we just molded together. I think we had all of the pieces of a national championship team.”
Haux played his developmental basketball in the Estevan area. After graduating from the Estevan Comprehensive School in 2017, he went and played basketball with the Notre Dame Hounds program. His past two seasons have been spent with the Trojans.
The time with the Elecs helped him grow as a player.
“I think it did a lot for me playing for Estevan’s high school team for four years. That’s where I learned to love basketball was in Estevan, playing there pretty much my entire life.”
While none of the players have been there for the past four years, Birky has. And Haux also gave him lots of credit for the conference titles.
“He has brought in a lot of success for the organizations. He’s been there for six years and he’s won four times.”
