Dime Sessions Season 6 Preview: The Next Wave Is Ready
Givingback for Season 6 has established itself as the best place to evaluate emerging basketball talent in Western Canada.
Last season featured more than 200 games across seven sessions, with 25 teams representing all four Western provinces. Prep programs, post-grad teams and younger prospects competed over several months, giving college coaches and evaluators repeated opportunities to watch players against quality competition rather than relying on one showcase weekend.
The exposure goes well beyond the coaches sitting courtside. Every Dime Sessions game is broadcast live on YouTube at @TheDimeSessions and archived afterward, allowing coaches across Canada and the United States to follow prospects throughout the season and review complete game film.
When The Maple Minute released its Dime Sessions All-Star teams last season, I estimated that at least 60 players across the league could eventually appear on NCAA, U SPORTS, or CCAA rosters. We're already watching many of those players make that jump.
From Dime to the Next Level
WCPA has built an impressive NCAA pipeline. Adam Harakow came through WCPA before reaching NCAA basketball, while Massal Diouf was another member of that WCPA group. The program has also developed players who have moved throughout the Canadian college system.
That pipeline continues with last year's Dime group. Clarence Suter, a Second-Team Dime All-Star, has moved on to Manitoba, while Mukungu Mutabazi has landed at Regina. Those are important examples when evaluating the next group coming through WCPA.
CTA West has produced its share, too: 6-foot-11 Brayden Savage has moved on to NCAA Division II Lincoln Memorial, while 6-foot-10 Spencer Tatlock is at Seton Hill and Temi Adeyinka at Roberts Wesleyan. Last year's Dime MVP, 6-foot-6 Owen Gateretse, is at Midland College after averaging 17.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in Dime play.
The movement extends across the league. Bebang Leke from One Prep is at York; Athletic Edge's Agrey Baya has moved on to Olds; Golden Ticket's Grady Wilson is also at Olds; nd FN Prep's Rashawn Taniskishayinew has made the jump to the ACAC.
Dime is increasingly becoming a place where we can watch college players before they become college players. That's what makes evaluating this year's group so interesting.
CTA Chases Three Straight
There is also a championship to play for, and CTA West enters Season 6 with everyone chasing them.
CTA has won the past two Dime championships and will attempt to make it three straight with a substantially different group. —redWhite and Black return, with plenty of size and several prospects worth following.
6-foot-8 Malakai Hills, 6-foot-6 Ezra Lado, 6-foot-6 Finn Pritchard and 6-foot-8 Makalele Palid are four I'll be watching closely. 6-foot-6 Mayen Atem is another player I'm already familiar with after watching him with Supreme last season.
Atem's combination of length and guard skill continually caught my attention. He can get downhill, create for teammates, pull up off the dribble and finish above the rim. Now we get to evaluate how his game develops in the CTA environment.
We've already had an early look at the new CTA groups at the WCPA Showcase. CTA Black edged Toronto, Terror 78-77, CTA Red fell 96-80 to 1Possession a, nd CTA White defeated WCPA Regional 77-63. Those September results aren't conclusions, but they give us a baseline for a program replacing a significant amount of talent.
WCPA Has Another Loaded Group
Western Canada Prep Academy isn't entering Season 6 quietly.
WCPA National went 3-0 in the Showcase results we tracked, defeating Toronto Terror 85-64, 1Possession 105-57 and Athletic Edge Academy 101-60. More important than the margins was our first opportunity to evaluate a group with college prospects throughout the roster.
6-foot-1 2027 guard Zayne Hinkson returns as one of Dime's established stars after earning First-Team All-Star recognition last season. At the WCPA Showcase, Josh Millican again saw the shot creation, handle and feel that made Hinkson stand out last year, including his ability to create space for deep step-back threes.
There is significant talent around him. 6-foot-7 2027 Daniel Banjoko arrived from England and immediately stood out with his length, reactions and defensive versatility. 6-foot-5 2027 Miles Herbert has also started the season strongly, while Braxton Brook and Oscar Rouillard add more size, skill and feel. WCPA has also added 6-foot-8 Bilal Olowoshile and 6-foot-8 Eric Barto.
That's what makes this group particularly interesting. WCPA has already shown it can develop players who reach the NCAA and Canadian university levels. Hinkson, Banjoko, Herbert and the rest of this year's group now get the opportunity to establish where they fit in that pipeline.
CTA owns the last two championships, but WCPA gives us plenty to watch in that three-peat pursuit.
Golden Ticket Brings an Intriguing Young Group
Golden Ticket became one of my favourite teams to watch last season.
Coach Stephen Shields had an undersized group that completely bought into how it needed to play. Golden Ticket put together a 10-game winning streak over three sessions, climbed into the Platinum Division conversation, nd Shields ultimately earned our Dime Sessions Coach of the Year recognition.
This year's group includes Daniel Moore, JayJay Ogunride, Butoyi Niyomungere, David Ola David, Jacoby Langford, Garrett Smith, Quinn Teece and Clarence Ermine.
What makes the roster particularly interesting is its youth. Ogunride, Langford, Teece and Ermine are all 2027s, giving us a chance to follow a group of Saskatchewan prospects against older competition throughout an entire Dime season.
For The Maple Minute, that matters more than simply comparing this team to last year's 10-game winning streak. We want to see who develops into a legitimate post-secondary prospect and how these younger players respond as teams become more familiar with them.
A Deep Season 6 Field
The depth of Dime goes well beyond CTA, WCPA and Golden Ticket.
Season 6 includes CTA West Red, CTA West White, CTA West Black, WCPA National, WCPA Regional, Golden Ticket, PSA White, PSA Black, One Prep, Athletic Edge Academy, FN Prep, Peace Country Prep, Calgary Academy Hoops, Calgary Impact, United, UPlay Scholastic, Eclipse, Mountaineers White, Mountaineers Blue, Summit Basketball, Nast'ogha Prep, Empire Elite, Blacktop, Rise, Supreme and FYB.
That mixture of established prep programs, younger developmental teams and unsigned players is part of what makes Dime valuable. We will inevitably leave the opening weekend talking about players who weren't mentioned anywhere in this preview.
That happened last season. I expect it to happen again.
2026–27 Dime Sessions Schedule
Season 6 begins this weekend in Calgary and features five regular-season sessions before returning to Calgary for the championship.
Session Location Dates
Session 1 Calgary Sept. 25–27
Session 2 Edmonton Oct. 23–25
Session 3 Edmonton Nov. 13–15
Session 4 Calgary Dec. 11–13
Session 5 Edmonton Jan. 22–24
Championship Calgary Feb. 25–28
That format is one of the things I like most from an evaluation standpoint. One great weekend can put a player on the radar, but five sessions tell us considerably more. We get to see how players adjust, whether weaknesses improve, and who can keep producing once opponents have already scouted them.
For coaches who can't make the trip, you can watch all those games live on the Dime Sessions YouTube channel and revisit them afterward through the archive.
Session 1: Calgary
The opening weekend runs September 25–27 and immediately gives us some interesting matchups.
Friday includes Peace Country Prep against WCPA Regional at 1:30 p.m., Blacktop Basketball Academy against CTA Black at 3:00, Peace Country against CTA Red at 4:30, WCPA Regional against Mountaineers Blue at 6:00, CTA White against Mountaineers White at 7:30 and Team FN against UPlay NSS Academy 2 at 9:00 on Court 1.
Court 2 Friday includes PSA Prep White vs. Academy Hoops Prep, Tsuu'tina Nast'ogha Prep vs.Rise, UPlay NSS Academy 1 vs. FYB and United Prep vs. Athletic Edge.
Saturday gives us another full day, including Supreme Hoops-WCPA Regional, CTA White-Mountaineers Blue, Athletic Edge-WCPA Regional, Supreme Hoops-Mountaineers White, PSA Prep White-Rise and PSA Prep Black-CTA Black.
Sunday closes the weekend with games including Supreme Hoops-Blacktop, Eclipse-CTA White, Mountaineers White-Athletic Edge, PSA Prep Black-Mountaineers Blue, CTA Red-Rise and Supreme Hoops-UPlay NSS Academy 1.
It is a packed opening weekend, and the schedule should quickly introduce us to players and teams that haven't received much attention yet.
What We're Looking For
The championship storyline is straightforward: CTA is pursuing three straight, while WCPA enters with an experienced returning star in Hinkson and another talented group around him. But the bigger story for The Maple Minute is identifying the next players who can make the jump.
Last season, we watched Gateretse, Savage, Tatlock, Suter, Leke, Baya, Wilson, and others compete in these gyms before moving into college basketball. Programs participating in Dime have produced NCAA players, while many more prospects have landed throughout JUCO, U SPORTS and CCAA.
We already know many of the names entering Season 6. What we don't know is which player from One Prep, Athletic Edge, FN, PSA, UPlay, Supreme, the Mountaineers, Calgary Impact or one of the league's other programs will force his way into that conversation. That's a major part of why we're excited to get back in the gym.
The Maple Minute will be at every Dime Sessions event this season, evaluating players in person and tracking their development from session to sessionon and highlighting the prospects who separate themselves. With every game also available live and archived on YouTube, there has never been a better opportunity to follow Western Canada's next wave from the beginning.
We'll see you in the gym.
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