CIS Hoops.ca

NOTE: We have taken a step to make the name of the site more in line with the subject matter and hopefully make it easier to describe where it is at the same time. So, without further adu, we announce that the site has been renamed www.cishoops.ca (you'll still be able to get to the site using the old link - both links should work). Please help us out by passing along this new name on to anyone you feel would benefit from information on CIS basketball.

ALSO, Windsor at Brock preview with quotes from Badgers Head Coach Ken Murray Lancers at Badgers preview from St. Catharines Standard

Guelph Mac women's game preview from Guelph Mercury here

Hamilton Cathedral's Tyrone Watson escaped the tough neighborhood of Toronto's Flemingdon area to arrive in Hamilton Gaels Watson Battles Adversity

LATE BREAKING ARTICLES OF INTEREST:

Numerous celebrations are planned in Halifax for the 24th consecutive Nationals event this March. Both Halifax daily newspapers have reports Halifax Chronicle-Herald Article as well as Halifax Daily News Article Best of luck with the Nationals this year !!!

Nice article on Regina's emerging 6'5" 230 lbs. forward Jamal Williams Jamal Williams article (subscription) Note: a subscription to any of the newspapers associated with Canada.com network typically works for these; for example, my subscription to the Ottawa Citizen enables all articles associated with canada.com network across the country to be viewed on-line.

Legendary Hamilton announcer Bill Sturrup is remembered Voice of Hamilton

National Team News: Canada's National Team Head Coach Leo Rautins apparently has his eyes on an American to fill out his staff in preparation for Olympic qualify this summer Rautins eyes Assistant

ABA Officials promise "dazzling" All-Star game in Halifax ABA All-Star game article

FIRST: A note on the AUS standings from good blog friend Bob Adams who has provided the best explanation I've ever received on the quirky scheduling and placements for the AUS tournament. By the way, for those who have never attended, the AUS tournament is one of the great events in CIS sports, Canada's version of the ACC tournament if you will. The great passion for CIS basketball displayed throughout the Maritimes is on full display at this great event, usually the weekend prior to the Nationals. FROM BOB ADAMS "To illustrate how the AUS schedule and assignment of 4-point games evolved, I personally show the team standings in the two divisions used to construct the schedule. I do it to help fans understand the system and rationale. There is a description near the bottom of my basketball page Link to Bob Adams CIS Page However, when it comes to discussing teams qualifying for playoffs, AUS uses a straight 1-8 ranking based on total points, with the top 6 qualifying. I don't re-list the teams and their total points, and instead leave it up to my readers to quickly scan the two divisions and mentally sort the 8 teams by total points to determine who is in first place, and who may not make the playoffs. If you are showing AUS standings they should be the 1-8 listing. e.g, SMU should be shown 4th overall instead of 1st in a division. A word of caution. The AUS website does not always sort teams accurately. This week Acadia is shown in front, tied with Cape Breton with 22 points, despite having 3 losses to Cape Breton's single loss. Similarly they have tied teams 3-6 UPEI listed ahead of 4-4 SMU. The Daily News shows them correctly."

Again, our thanks to long-time CIS supporter Bob Adams for this explanation which corrects some of my previous posts. Next question: Who are Nelson and Baldwin? Stay tuned.

TONIGHT'S CIS BASKETBALL ON THE INTERNET OR ON TV

8 PM McMaster (5-6) at Guelph (6-5) Mac campus radio LISTEN LIVE! Link to CFMU Mac Radio
8 PM Windsor (9-2) at Brock (6-5) Follow the game on-line via Brock Live Stats!

AUS
8:00 pm #2 StFX (6-2, 18 pts.) at Acadia (7-3, 22 pts.) 2 PT. GAME The X-Men hope to rebound after a less-than-stellar effort at home against Cape Breton and need a win to stay in the competitive race for first place in the AUS. A tremendous matchup fans are likely to see is 6'3" two-time Canadian defensive player of the year Garry Gallimore (Ottawa, ON) working against 6'1" second-year do-everything Paolo Santana (Toronto, ON). As well, the matchup at the point will be intriguing as solid, steady Axemen point guard Andrew Kraus (Markham, ON), a coach's son-type point who intelligently runs the show against the great athleticism and open-court skill of Christian "T-Bear" Upshaw (Halifax, NS). Finally, in the middle, 6'10" Neil McDonald brings his size and strength to match with athletic 6'8" Achuil Lual. In the only prior meeting of the season, X took a 77-75 contest in late November.

QSSF
8:00 pm UQAM (2-5) at McGill (4-3) The young Redmen are a team on the rise that unfortunately started poorly against Laval at home last Saturday. UQAM, the defending "Q" league champions, have won their last 2 in a row and 6'4" Mario Joseph appears to be rounding into form with his combination of strength and versatility. The Redmen, with everyone in their regular rotation 3rd year or younger, continue to throw 10 or more players at opponents and hope to take advantage of 6'8" Oliver Lamoureaux and 6'6" Yannick Chouinard inside against the Citadins who are at their best in an up-tempo affair. UQAM is likely to deploy their usual array of zone presses and look to create turnovers and run off misses. The only prior meeting between the 2 teams, also at McGill's Love Competition Hall, was a classic as the teams needed two overtimes before Redmen's Sean Anthony's 10 overtime points, including a dunk, pushed McGill past UQAM 104-92.

OUA West
8:00 pm McMaster (5-6) at Guelph (6-5) Another edition of the decades-long, heated Highway 8 rivalry, with both teams this season showing uncharacteristic inconsistency. The Marauders saw their shooting go south in an upset loss at home last Friday to Lakehead before turning things around with a blowout win on Saturday while the Gryphs could not recover from a terrible effort defensively in the first half of Saturday's home loss to Waterloo in which they dug themselves a 14 point hole allowing Warriors to score 44 first-half points. Guelph again shot below 35% in the game and were outrebounded 42-28 by Waterloo. Mac's All-Canadian candidate Martin Ajayi (Hamilton, ON) will look to push the tempo in his projected matchup with Gryphs 6'3" Nick Pankerichan (Hamilton, ON) while inside 6'8" Adam Steiner (Hamilton, ON) should look to face up 6'9" J.R. Bailey (Toronto, ON), while Bailey will look to use his post-up and power game. Guelph's newcomer Borko Popic (Kitchener, ON) played only 11 minutes on Saturday and did not score while 6'4" John Obrovac (Hamilton, ON) seems to be recovering from his season-long lingering foot injury after making 5 3's last Saturday against Lakehead. The game is available over the Internet on CFMU, Mac's campus radio (see above for co-ordinates).
8:00 pm #4 Windsor (9-2) at Brock (6-5) In what is a must-win for Brock to retain any chances of capturing the OUA West regular season pennant, the Badgers hope that 6'7" Owen White, who had his best league game of the season on Saturday at Laurier, holds his own against Lancers 6'8" emerging offensive threat Greg Surmacz (Peterborough, ON) and the rugged Allin brothers, Rich and Greg (both from Chatham, ON). Windsor shot 53% in the win at Western including a 7 for 9 effort in the first half from three point land when they took the game over. The Lancers had 6 different players make 3's as part of a 9/15 effort from 3 overall. Badgers, who average about 10 3's a game themselves, need a more solid offensive effort from 6'3" Mike Kemp (Niagara Falls, ON) to complement 6'2" Scott Murray (Welland, ON) and 5'9" Brad Rootes (Niagara Falls, ON), who has probably been the top player in the conference to date. Look for the Lancers to play inside/out while Brock spreads the floor and makes the Lancer bigs guard the perimeter in what could be a high scoring affair.
8:00 pm Western (4-7) at Waterloo (6-6) Although losers of their first 3 games in the new year, the Mustangs have played teams tough and hung in their against a very hot shooting Windsor Lancer team at home this past Saturday before losing by 13. Western's 6'6" Brad Smith (Barrie, ON) seems to be finding his offensive rhythm from both inside and out while slick shooting guard Jason Milliquet (Sarnia, ON) is again stretching defences. Western needs to get more out of 6'3" Andrew Wedemire (Sarnia, ON), who has not found his offence in the new year while 6'1" Matt Curtis (Hamilton, ON), another 'Stang who has not been consistent, looks to break out. As it should be on good teams, fifth-year seniors Matt Kieswetter (Waterloo, ON), Michael Davis (Toronto, ON) and Olivier Quesnel (Ottawa, ON) have been the main contributors behind Waterloo's 3-1 start to the new year including a solid effort at Guelph on Saturday where the Warriors broke out to a big lead and outrebounded the Gryphs 42-28. Waterloo got solid efforts from their pair of second-year posts as 6'7" Ben Frisby and 6'8" Matt Hayes combined for 14 boards against Guelph. Emerging second-year guard David Burnett is Waterloo's next star.

Stay tuned to the blog tonight for game results and reports as things complete.