CIS Hoops.ca

CIS NEWS

Good news on Brock guard Brad Rootes... he is out of the hospital but very sore with severely bruised ribs. Even had the Badgers defeated McMaster last night, Rootes would not have been available to play Saturday. Good to see that there is no long-term damage to Brad and fans look forward to seeing him for his fifth and final season in 2007-08

** TIME CHANGE: CIS BASKETBALL IN THE NATIONAL MEDIA ** CBC Radio today taped an interview with OUA East Player-of-the-Year Osvaldo Jeanty of the Carleton Ravens and OUA East second-team all-star and Ken Shields nominee Alex McLeod of the Ottawa Gee-Gees. Apparently, all CBC Radio affiliates will be broadcasting the interview Friday (tomorrow) morning at 7:15 AM Eastern time. The discussion should add to the media hype building around Saturday night's OUA East championship game at the Raven's Nest.

The Carleton Ravens announced yesterday that all seats and standing room tickets have been sold for Saturday's game - the game is a complete sell-out and the 72 hour blackout limit has been.... hold on (wishful thinking). The game will be broadcast by Rogers Television LIVE! beginning at 8 PM in the following areas: Ottawa, Toronto, Mississauga, York Region, Brampton, Brantford, Cambridge, Dufferin/Caledon, Durham, Guelph, Kitchener, London, Stratford, Waterloo, Waterloo Region. As a bonus, it appears that Rogers may pick up the Cogeco feed from the Mac at Windsor OUA West championship game on Saturday night and broadcast that game on tape delay after the live telecast of Ottawa at Carleton. Stay tuned to your local stations for more information. Cogeco will broadcast the OUA West championship game on Saturday live as far as we know.

Carleton's student newspaper recaps last week's win over York Ravens Start Playoff Drive in Style and previews Saturday's OUA East championship game against Ottawa Ravens Set to Play Gee-Gees in Final

Laurier's campus newspaper, The Cord Weekly, examines the day-to-day activities of Hawks all-star forward Matt Walker A Day in the Life of Matt Walker

uOttawa's campus newspaper with an article on last weekend's Gee-Gees victory over U of T Blues Gee-Gees Send Blues Packing

The web site thehoop-la.com out of Hamilton is reporting through Jim Thomas of All-Ontario Scouting Service that Keenan Jeppesen, who played his high school basketball at Salfleet H.S. in Stoney Creek for coach Jim Weatherbee, has decided to enroll in the MBA (Master's of Business Administration) program at the University of Western Ontario and will join the basketball Mustangs next season. 6'7" Jeppesen decided to transfer back to Canada after spending 3 seasons playing for Brown Bears of the Ivy League. Jeppesen joins 6'10" Colin LaForme as another high-profile transfer who will join Brad Campbell's emerging Mustangs program next season. Jeppesen, who will be eligible in January '08, will have 1 1/2 seasons of eligibility remaining.

Stories from last night's OUA West playoff action: Larry Moko from the Hamilton Spectator covered last night's Mac at Brock game in St. Catharines and saw an "MVP performance" from Marauder's diminutive guard Martin Ajayi Ajayi has MVP-type Game Jim Wallace from the St.Catharines Standard also reports Badgers Bounced from Playoffs . As readers found out last night, OUA West MVP Brad Rootes sustained an abdominal injury during last night's game that caused him to spit blood out on the sidelines and forced him to the hospital - we wish Brad all the best - here is an update from the St. Catharines Standard Brock Guard Taken to Hospital

Mary Caton from the Windsor Star reports on last night's 8 point Lancer victory over Guelph, propelling Windsor into the OUA West championship game on Saturday Lancers Earn Spot in OUA West Final . In the article, coach Chris Oliver was complementary of freshman guard Tyler Carey's defense and the game-altering technical against Guelph's Duncan Milne is also described. Also an article from the Guelph Mercury providing the Gryphons perspective on last night's loss Gryphs Fizzle in Ousting

Another pair of CIS playoff games go tonight, this time in the "Q" as #2 ranked and regular season pennant winner Concordia Stingers host UQAM Citadins in an all-Montreal affair while Laval hosts McGill Redmen at the PEPS in Laval. Both games are one-game, sudden-death semi-final playoff games with the winners meeting next weekend in a one-game sudden-death final to determine the "Q"'s qualifier for the CIS Nationals.

7 PM UQAM (#4 seed: 5-11) at Concordia (#1 seed: 15-1) QSSF Semi-Final They've waited one long year to try to make up for last season and now the Concordia Stingers have their opportunity to amend for last season's upset playoff loss at home to the Citadins. Recall that UQAM won at Concordia in the playoffs last season en route to the Nationals. This season, the Citadins were the only team to defeat the Stingers in Quebec league play, using a 56 point second half to come from behind for an 84-71 win in January as Concordia played without QSSF First Team All-Star Damian Buckley (QSSF First Team All-Star, 14.5 ppg/ 4.5 rpg/ 4.7 apg). Concordia captured the other 3 league games between the two teams with wins by 18, 22 and 39 last weekend at Concordia. Both teams bringing great athleticism to the table and Concordia's pressure "d", led by Damian and Dwayne Buckley (QSSF First Team All-Star, 16.3 ppg/6.3 rpg), who combined for almost 5 steals per game in league play, allow the Stingers to get easy transition scores and generate large, quick runs that usually turn a game around. In the half court, 6'3" Patrick Perrotte (18.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 58% fg), the "Q"'s Player-of-the-Year, is a difficult check in the low block with his solid array of post moves while 6'3" Ben Sormonte (12.6 ppg) stretches defenses with his ability to knock perimeter shots down but can also run the point in a pinch. The well-balanced Citadins have four players who averaged at least 10 points per game led by Marc-Olivier Beauchamp at 13.1 ppg. 6'4" Mario Joseph (12.3 ppg/6.0 rpg), a transfer from Brandon, has the ability to take a game over from both inside and out. Scrappy Kevin Boucher (11.9 ppg/6.7 rpg) provides tough work inside for QAM while Mackenzie DeBrosse (10.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg) is another solid contributor. The Citadins did a tremendous job on the glass in defeating Bishop's to secure the final playoff spot over the weekend and will need another super effort on the road at Concordia. Randy Phillips from the Montreal Gazette previews the game tonight with a focus on Perrotte and Sormonte, who want to make amends for last season's 102-90 upset loss at the hands of UQAM at Concordia that eliminated the Stingers from the Nationals contention Aim to go out in glory

7 PM McGill (#3 seed: 7-9) at Laval (#2 seed: 9-7) QSSF Semi-Final These teams met last Friday night in Montreal with second place on the line and the Rouge et Or came away with an 18 point victory to sew up the home floor advantage in the semi-final playoff game. Laval's lethal combination of 6'7" J.P. Morin (22.2 ppg, 10.8 rpg - both QSSF-leading totals) and 6'3" Jean-François Beaulieu-Maheux (21.9 ppg - second in the "Q"), the favorite for CIS Rookie-of-the-Year, represents the majority of the offense for the young Rouge et Or, in somewhat of a rebuilding year, yet still a contender. Morin, plagued with a wrist injury to his shooting hand most of the season, still was able to lead the conference with 7 double doubles including a 22 point/12 rebound effort vs. the Redmen in November. Fifth-year guard Jean-Michel LeBlanc (10.8 ppg/4.4 rpg) led the conference in 3 point shots made and had a season-high 7 threes earlier this year against QAM. Another strong freshman, 6'4" Matthew Thornhill (13.5 ppg) led the Redmen in scoring this season while 6'3" third-year forward Sean Anthony (13.3 ppg/4.6 rpg) had big games down the stretch allowing McGill to secure third place with a pair of key victories over QAM and Bishop's; against the Gaiters he went coast-to-coast and hit a layup at the buzzer to bring the Redmen all the way back from a late 22 point deficit which clinched a playoff spot for McGill. Guard Nicholas Pronovost is steady and averaged 4.1 apg which was 2nd in the QSSF. After taking the first game of the series 69-57 at Laval, the Redmen dropped the last 3, including 2 at home by 9, 9 and 18 points last weekend. Both teams use much of their bench and like to run so expect an exciting match in Laval tonight.

CANADA WEST ANNOUNCES MAJOR AWARD WINNERS

Here is the link to the official press release from the Canada West web site Archibald Repeats as MVP

MVP: Casey Archibald, UBC

Rookie of the Year: Jeff Lukomski, Regina

Defensive Player of the Year: Yul Michel, Brandon

Ken Shields Award nominee: Aaron Christensen, Simon Fraser

Coach of the Year: Barnaby Craddock, Brandon

All-Stars
First Team
Andrew Spagrud, Saskatchewan
Erfan Nasajpour, Winnipeg
Aaron Christensen, Simon Fraser
Dany Charlery, Brandon
Alex Steele, Alberta

Second Team
Josh Whyte, Victoria
Isaac Ansah, Manitoba
Adam Hartman, Brandon
Chris Dyck, UBC
Jacob Doerksen, Victoria

Major award winners will automatically become finalists for national awards, to be handed out by Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) at the national championship, hosted by Atlantic University Sport, March 16-18 at the Metro Centre in Halifax.

This weekend the Final Four takes place at Brandon University, with the host Bobcats, UBC Thunderbirds, Victoria Vikes and Saskatchewan Huskies looking for one of two spots available at the CIS event.