Basketball Manitoba is pleased to share the news that Burke Toews of Winnipeg has been named the Japan Pro Basketball League's (JBL) Coach of the Year after a successful season with the Hyogo Storks in Japan. Burke is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg where he played 5 years with the Wesmen under Bruce Enns and Bill Wedlake. He has been playing and coaching basketball in Asia since graduating from the Wesmen in the early 1990's. The Storks finished as Western Conference Champions with an overall record of 29-5 with a defense that held opponents to a 38% shooting average, at the same time finishing 2nd in points per game (84). The Storks will move to the top division (JBL1) next season to compete with corporate giants such as Toyota, Panasonic and Hitachi. Making this accomplishment all the more impressive, Toews won the title developing local talent. Half of the team comes from the state of Hyogo in Japan.
