‘I just want to soak it all in’
Photo via Vikes Athletics.
Vikes basketball player Diego Maffia enters his fifth and final season at UVic with one thing left to accomplish: winning a national championship.
Individually, he’s done it all. Maffia’s 2023-24 accolades — too extensive to list in full — include leading the nation in scoring for the second straight season and winning U Sports Player of the Year and Canada West Player of the Year. Oh, and he’ll begin the 2024-25 season as the Vikes men’s basketball record holder for career three-pointers with 258.
But the 6’1’’ guard, who brings an electrifying blend of speed, ball control, and shooting precision to the court, is adamant that his decision to commit to UVic — even when American universities offered him scholarships — goes beyond the personal accolades he’s collected here. Maffia moved from Brazil to Victoria at age 14, and has lived in the city since.
“I wanted to win in Victoria, for the city,” said Maffia. “Not to sound cliché, but I just felt something that connected me to Victoria.”
After reaching the national championships in each of his first four seasons, the stage is set for Maffia to make one final push for a national banner.
“Now that we’ve been [to nationals] four times, it’s like, okay, we know what to do,” said Maffia. “We have another shot at it.”
With a strong contingent of Canadian universities entering the U Sports basketball season with the same goal, it’s fair to wonder if the Vikes — led by Maffia — can get it done in his final collegiate season. But Maffia’s backstory alone serves as a warning to not count him out.
Maffia came to basketball late. Born in Brazil, he gravitated instead to the soccer pitch. And when his parents picked up and moved the family from Brazil to Victoria, B.C., Maffia arrived at Oak Bay High School intending to continue with soccer.
“I thought [soccer] was going to be easier here [in Canada] than it was in Brazil, because in Brazil it’s crazy; everyone plays. But it was just a coincidence my teacher [at Oak Bay High School] ended up being the basketball coach.”
His teacher encouraged him to try out for Oak Bay’s junior basketball team. Maffia was cut at the end of tryouts. Instead, he played his first season of basketball for the less competitive grade nine “fun” team. Nevertheless, the seed was planted.
Maffia began a routine of arriving at school before sunrise to shoot hundreds of jump shots each morning, accompanied only by the thump of his basketball and squeak of his sneakers on the gymnasium floor. Maffia’s love for the game grew.
“I was there in the morning every day,” said Maffia. “Getting up at seven, walking to school, and just getting the lights on and shooting.”
The following year, Maffia made the junior (grade nine/ten) team that he was cut from the year before. Midway through the season, was called up to play for the senior team. By the end of the year, still just in tenth grade, Maffia was the starting guard for Oak Bay’s senior team.
“I was always putting in extra work. I always wanted to get better,” recalled Maffia. “Still to this day, whatever I’m doing, I want to get better at it. I want to be the best at it.”
Maffia’s success as a Vike proved the decision to focus on basketball was correct. After the 2023 season — highlighted by a win against UBC in which Maffia scored 21 straight points in the final four minutes to help the Vikes overcome a 14-point deficit and secure the number one seed going into Canada West Championships — Maffia was drafted sixth overall by the Vancouver Bandits in the Canadian Elite Basketball League.
Since then, Maffia has played professionally for the Bandits the past two summers, even playing alongside current NBA Portland Trailblazer guard Tazé Moore.
Though Maffia needed to adjust to a limited role with the Bandits, the experience has helped him elevate his game even further when transitioning back to the college level.
“I saw the difference of how much quicker the game was,” said Maffia, who wants to prioritize the defensive side of the game this season with the Vikes.
“There’re little tweaks offensively that I want to change, like being more patient on offense, not rushing shots…. But defense is what I’m focusing on this year,” said Maffia. “If I’m locked in defensively, then I know that all my teammates are locked in defensively.”
Maffia is also looking forward to what new Vikes head coach Murphy Burnatowski will add to the team. Stylistically, Maffia said Burnatowski favours a freer style of play that trusts its players to make reads in the moment and take chances.
“It’s more loose …. I think that’s what’s changing the most … there’s a little bit less pressure … guys are just playing and having fun with it.”
Though Maffia’s goal is to win, the importance of having fun and being in the moment isn’t something that eludes the senior either.
“I just want to enjoy every bit of it … every travel, every game — I just want to soak it all in,” said Maffia.
