BU Bobcats add Surrey guard Virk

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/06/2024 (530 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Seva Virk talked to a quarter of the Canada West men’s basketball coaches.

Gil Cheung and Brandon University easily stood out to the Surrey, B.C., native.

“His words were ‘I’d take you in a heartbeat. We want you here,’” Virk recalled. “If a coach is talking to you like that, it seems like the place you should go. Other coaches weren’t giving me the same emphasis.

“From talking to him the first time, I can tell he really cares about his players. The way he was talking to me was like no other coach has, so it felt really promising.”

Virk is the latest piece of a massive Bobcats rookie class for the 2024-25 U Sports season, including Darko Karac, Nathan Saldo, Liam McArthur, Youri Cange and Crocus Plains product Noah Mulaw.

Virk thought about staying in British Columbia, also connecting with UBC Okanagan, the University of Northern British Columbia and the University of the Fraser Valley.

Instead, he won’t play a regular-season game in his home province, since the conference is shifting to a 10-team Prairie division and seven-team B.C. division to save on travel costs during the 20-game slate.

The six-foot-five guard feels ready to leave home and embrace a new challenge.

Virk has played basketball since he was little. He decided to take it seriously and train year-round in Grade 8, with his dad, Lucky, training him in some capacity every step.

Virk joined Drive Basketball, run by Cheung’s best friend Pasha Bains, and developed into a key piece of one of the top 4A teams in the province.

In his senior year with the Tamawanis Wildcats, Virk reached the provincial final, knocking off No. 1 seed Oak Bay 80-79 in overtime. “That game was the most electric game of my life. It was honestly a crazy experience,” said Virk, who scored 17 points. “We were down by 15 at half and we came back. Me and a couple of my teammates, we started turning it up. We’d get steals, layups, steals, layups … it was the most fun game ever.”

He admitted it took a lot out of his team before the final against the No. 2-seed Spectrum Thunder, who dropped the Wildcats 92-72.

Virk said it was a great experience to carry into U Sports, playing in front of a big crowd and battling through back-to-back games like Canada West teams do every weekend.

“It’s going to wear on your body but I had to understand my opponents are going through the same thing so there’s no excuses,” he said. “You have to man up, be physically ready and mentally ready.

“It’s a lot of pressure you’re going to have to embrace.”

Virk follows a theme of size in the 2024 rookie class, which features players ranging from six-foot-three to six-foot-eight as Cheung looks to improve defensively while maintaining a high-paced offence.

Virk has three-point range and proved dangerous getting to the rim and creating shots for himself off the dribble in high school.

He knows he could be the biggest guy on the floor at times at BU and says he’s comfortable defending in the paint.

“In university, it’s all about working hard. On my team, I was one of the main defenders but I’ll have to especially focus on that going into university,” he said. “I want to be the best defender on my team. Also, I want to get every rebound I can.”

The Bobcats are coming off back-to-back 12-8 seasons with conference quarterfinal exits.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Instagram: @thomasfriesen5