GUELPH — George Jackson is to coach the Wellington Basketball Club, the Guelph-based team that is to make its debut in the Canadian Basketball League with a road game this weekend.

Jackson, a member of the Cincinnati sports hall of fame for his prowess in coaching high school basketball, is also a former NCAA assistant coach with Bowling Green State University, Seton Hall University and the University of Cincinnati.

The club has listed its roster on the CBL’s website. The players on the list are centre Zech Smith of McLoud, Okla., forward/centre Devon Scott of Columbus, forward Dominique Walls of Chicago, guard/forward Evan Pannell of Akron, Ohio, and guards Jamil Abiad of Orleans, Ont., Daniel Kabeya of Edmonton, Sam Sanders of Philadelphia and Jatrious Smith of Fayetteville, N.C.

Two more Canadians are to be added as league rules state that teams must have four Canadians on their 10-man rosters.

The league, the idea of former Toronto Raptors’ head coach Butch Carter, started its four-team inaugural season last weekend when Durham United defeated Hamilton United at Mohawk College. Scarborough is the fourth team in the league.

Wellington is to play its first game Sunday against Scarborough at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre and is to play its first home game Jan. 15 against Durham at the new Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre that is to be completed later this month.

The current schedule for the locals has them playing 13 home games and eight on the road. The home schedule features five games on each of Saturday and Sunday and one each on a Monday, Thursday and Friday. Their road schedule has three Friday, three Saturday and two Sunday games.

While Wellington has eight road games, four of their first six are away from the Royal City as University of Guelph varsity sports have the facility booked.

Wellington’s first two games of the season are to be at Scarborough and they have home-and-home series four times: Jan. 15 and 21 against Durham, Jan. 27 and 29 against Hamilton, Feb. 12 and 18 against Scarborough and Feb. 25 and March 10 against Hamilton.

There’s also a three-day stretch in March when local fans can see all three of the other teams in the league as Scarborough visits March 24, Durham drops by March 25 and Scarborough shows up for a March 26 game.

The league plays by FIBA rules, the same as used by the Guelph Gryphons in OUA play.