New technology could help improve the Raptors defense. (Getty Images)The Toronto Raptors are focusing on the future and no, that’s not in reference to the increased playing time rookies Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross have received in the team’s last four or five games.

In this context ‘the future’ isn’t alluding to any specific player on the Raptors roster. Rather it’s in reference to the organization’s use of SportVU, an innovative camera-tracking system that Grantland NBA writer Zach Lowe says ‘records every movement on the floor and spits it back at its front-office keepers as a byzantine series of geometric coordinates’ and ‘will change the way we understand basketball.’

According to Lowe, the Raptors are at the forefront when it comes to the use of this technology and they’re making some serious progress with it.

He wrote in a story for Grantland earlier this week:

In simple terms: The Raptors' analytics team wrote insanely complex code that turned all those X-Y coordinates from every second of every recorded game into playable video files.

Sports Illustrated ran a six-page feature on Canadian NCAA players in the March 18 issue.

March Madness gets underway Tuesday as the NCAA basketball tournament's play-in games tip off, and there's plenty of Canadian content to be found. From #1 seed Gonzaga's Kelly Olynyk and Kevin Pangos to #5 Michigan's Nik Staukas to #5 UNLV's Anthony Bennett and Khem Birch to #13 New Mexico State's Canadian trio, this year's NCAA tournament has a substantial Canadian flavour. What's particularly interesting is that outlets outside Canada are starting to notice, and that's shown in a six-page feature in the March 18 issue of Sports Illustrated. Headlined "Canada's Got Talent", the piece (the full article isn't posted online yet, but here's some more information on it) by SI senior writer Kelli Anderson is a remarkable examination of many of the top NCAA players hailing from Canada and how they got to this level. Its existence alone is proof that the conversation around Canadian basketball players in the NCAA has changed, though; they've gone from extra reasons for Canadians to watch to crucial components on powerful teams.

Daniel Mullings of the New Mexico State Aggies. (Getty Images)With the beginning of March Madness only days away, the hype surrounding the tournament has just about reached its peak.

In Canada much of the talk surrounds Kelly Olynyk, and rightfully so. The 7-foot forward who hails from Kamloops, B.C., has become the face of the Gonzaga Bulldogs, who head into the first round as the No. 1 seed in the West Region.

Olynyk was one of the top players in the NCAA this season as he led the Bulldogs in scoring and was second in rebounding averaging 17.5 points and 7.2 boards per game. He also has an interesting backstory to go along with his success being that just a year ago he red-shirted for the Zags while Robert Sacre led the team’s frontcourt.

But while Olynyk and the Bulldogs, who also have Newmarket, Ont., native Kevin Pangos in their starting lineup, may be the easy choice for Canadians looking for a team to root for in the Madness, for those who prefer cheering on the underdog and want to stay loyal to the red and white, the New Mexico State

Kelly Olynyk, front, and Kevin Pangos, left, could go all the way with Gonzaga. (The Canadian Press)It’s no secret that there is suddenly an abundance of basketball players coming out of Canada to play in the NCAA. But what makes the 2013 field of Canadians participating in the NCAA Tournament even more impressive is the amount of top-end talent.

No longer are the Canadian players holding down benches or getting limited playing time. Whereas a player at a top-flight school – like Jamaal Magloire at Kentucky – used to be rare, it is now becoming the norm. There are Canadian players in the starting lineups of at least 10 schools participating in March Madness. (A complete list of Canadian players in the tournament is available here.)

Here is a look at some of the best Canada has to offer this March:

Best player – Kelly Olynyk, Gonzaga.

The 7-foot junior from Kamloops, B.C., was one of the most improved players this season and the leader of the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs.

Olynyk averaged 17.5 points and 7.2 rebounds while being named a finalist for the Wooden Award, which goes to the NCAA’s

Patrick Chan became the third Canadian ever to capture three men's world figure skating championships. (Getty)As he finished his free program at the Budweiser Gardens in London, Ont., Patrick Chan took his right palm and smacked it against his forehead while skating slowly across the ice, likely just absorbing the moment.

It didn’t go as planned. He’d fallen twice during the six-minute program and now the competition that had started perfectly looked like it might end in disappointment for the 22-year-old who was performing in front of a home crowd on one of the biggest stages in figure skating.

The gold medal that he appeared to be on his way to capturing was no longer a sure thing.

Luckily for Chan however, his exceptional short program in which he put up a world-record score of 98.37 was enough to carry him all the way to a third-straight world championship Friday, albeit just barely.

As the results show, Chan finished with a final combined score of 267.78, while silver medalist Denis Ten of Kazakhstan finished with a score of 266.48. Spanish skater Javier Fernandez, who was believed to be

The 2014 Olympic curling venue in Adler, Russia. (Paul Webster photo)

Curling fans get another taste of international competition beginning this weekend with the World Women's Championship getting underway in Riga, Latvia. Many of the teams in action there will very likely be at next year's Olympics, too, and while it's not certain whether Canada's representative at the worlds (skipped by Rachel Homan) will be there, one thing is certain: Whoever sports the maple leaf on their back in Sochi will get plenty of support from a behind-the-scenes team that is already hard at work.

"Any potential problems or challenges that may arise, we hope to have an answer for them," said Olympic Curling Team Leader Paul Webster, after getting back from a reconnaissance mission in Russia, earlier this week. The "Olympic familiarization trip" is similar to ones being taken by other Canadian Olympic team leaders in advance of the games.

Webster, a national team coach with the Canadian Curling Association's high performance training centre in Calgary, assumes the role of

Aylmer, Que.'s Olivier Hanlan (left) set 2 ACC records on Thursday (The Associated Press)

Think of all the basketball greats who have come through the ACC — Tim Duncan, David Thompson, James Worthy, Michael Jordan, Billy Cunningham, Ralph Sampson, the late great Len Bias.

Thursday, Boston College Eagles guard Olivier Hanlan did something none of those sundry legends ever did during their frosh seasons. The point guard from Aylmer, Que., broke two conference records simultaneously by scoring 41 points in BC's 84-64 win over Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets scored the game's first 15 points, then scored only eight more than Hanlan across the rest of the game.

Suffice to say, he was feeling it.

Andrea Bargnani may have played his last game in a Raptors' uniform.Raptors' power forward Andrea Bargnani is expected to miss the rest of the NBA season following an avulsion sprain to his elbow last Friday, and that may signify the end of his time in Toronto. If so, it's an apt way to end the tenure of one of the most disappointing Raptors ever. When general manager Bryan Colangelo took Bargnani first overall in the 2006 draft, ahead of players like LaMarcus Aldridge and Rajon Rondo, many hoped the Italian seven-footer could provide an outside scoring threat in a big man's body, giving defenders matchup nightmares. Unfortunately for the Raptors, they were the ones who usually wound up with the matchup nightmares thanks to Bargnani's lacklustre defence and poor rebounding, and even his scoring was notably inefficient; he's shot just .437 from the field for his career and just .400 this season. Colangelo even admitted he tried to trade Bargnani this year, but that didn't work out thanks to an earlier injury. As Matt Moore writes over at CBS' Eye On Basketball, it's hard to imagine Bargnani being back in a Raptors' uniform next season:

Bargnani has been enemy No. 1 to Raptors fans this season, after his brief resurgence last season turned into even lower failures this season when he did play. GM Bryan Colangelo said prior to the deadline that the team was actively trying to trade Bargnani, not something you typically hear from a general manager. But they couldn't find a deal before the deadline and Bargnani stayed put prior to this latest injury.

You have to think this is the end of Bargnani's time in Toronto one way or another. If a trade isn't made this summer, you can expect the Raptors to use the amnesty clause to get out of his sizable remaining contract.

Not with a bang, but a whimper, apparently.

The comment about Bargnani being enemy No. 1 for Raptors' fans is an interesting one, and a generally fair one. For a team that's trying to establish a new identity with Rudy Gay and Kyle Lowry, Bargnani's an uncomfortable reminder of past missteps, but it goes beyond that. His play this year has been particularly dismal, and that's shown by the stats; he's averaging just 12.7 points on .400 shooting (significant drops from the 19.7 on .432 he put up last year), grabbing a career-low 3.7 rebounds per game, and posting a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of just 11.3, his lowest since 2007-08. As Joseph Casciaro wrote about his play this year, "Bargnani has produced some of the most uninspiring basketball we’ve ever seen."