Thinking of making this a regular segment, so feel free to have your say on what you think. Transcribing an interview with coaches that are done in advance of games here in the Wheat City. Reporters talk for five, 10 minutes with a subject and then — maybe — use two of those quotes. So why not actually let people know what they say that doesn’t get in the newspaper? It also fully exposes my inabilities as an interviewer. So, we got that going for us… which is good.

Also, feel free to tell me this idea sucks.

In the meantime, a chat with Calgary Dinos men’s coach Dan Vanhooren, whose 12-2, second-ranked team comes to Brandon for a Saturday night tilt against the No. 5-ranked Brandon Bobcats:

Brandon Sun: Things have been going along pretty well for you guys the last little while. What’s been so big for you as you’ve gone on this nice little run?

Vanhooren: To be honest with you, I think at the beginning of the year we knew we had enough talent, we weren’t sure if we were going to be old enough and mentally, kinda, steady enough to carry it on at times. But I think we’ve kinda found our stride and figured out what works and what doesn’t. So, I think if we continue to utilize what our strengths are, then we can continue to be successful.

Sun: You guys are pretty athletic, but you bang, you work pretty hard. When you talk about some of the things you’re successful at, what you’re good at, what really stands out to you?

Vanhooren: If you look at our stats, rebounding is a big thing for us. We’re a pretty athletic team and we’re big and long, and we do well on the glass. Certainly that’s a big stat for winning and losing basketball games. Since the game is basically a game of lower percentages, so the extra rebounds really help us out. After that, right now for our team, this year defensively we’ve been much stronger and that may be a result of our size and athleticism as well. I think as long as we continue to utilize our size and athleticism and we don’t go away from it and just shoot jump shots and stuff then I think we should be alright.

Sun: And Henry (Bekkering’s) addition has been pretty much what you’d expect it would’ve been?

Vanhooren: We were thrilled, obviously, with having him here and athleticallly he provides some additional excitement outside of his usual basketball skills that he has. He shoots his jumper well and he has some three-point range, his percentages are quite high. He’s a legitimate basketball player, he’s not just a dunker and it’s nice to see him showing that and it sure helps our team out.

Sun: Let’s talk really quickly about the match-up Saturday night (in Brandon). A couple of 12-and-2’s and, I don’t know how you see it, but seemingly it’s two teams that match-up pretty well with each other.

Vanhooren: I think we do. I think we may have some struggles with (Dany) Charlery and I think they may have some trouble with Henry, depending on who’s guarding who, but certainly it’s two teams that are big and athletic and have similar strengths. Our scoring comes from the 3-spot, basically Henry, and Dany is obviously the key for Brandon, from a scoring perspective. They have a couple of big athletes inside that can rebound and so do we so it should be an interesting match-up. I think both teams are very equally matched and to have one ranked higher than the other right now is really, it’s a draw.

Sun: With the lead that you guys have got built up in your division, and Brandon’s got the same situation, how do you approach the last four weeks or so of almost knowing that you’ve got that No. 1 spot (in the division)?

Vanhooren: For us, we don’t have it wrapped up necessarily. There’s eight games left and Alberta is a pretty good basketball team. If we go on this road trip — let’s say we go to Regina and lose and then go to Brandon and lose — Alberta is hosting SFU and Trinity this weekend and if they sweep we’re only a game up on them. So it’s very consequence-based. For the remainder of the year, in talking to the athletes, we’re going to be focused one game at a time and one possession at a time and just continue to try to improve ourselves so that we’re ready for playoffs and I think these road games are a big test for us from that perspective