CIS Hoops.ca

Many thanks to our good friend Neate Sager, who publishes the wonderful sports blog Out of Left Field for this piece on former Canadian National team coach and current Toronto Raptor assistant Jay Triano, who as it turns out, could have done the interview for this piece in Spanish, which helps him out in his work coaching with the Raps - thanks to Neate for the heads up George Gross article on Jay Triano in the Sunday Sun

An article from News@UofT, the University of Toronto's on-line news site announcing a series of athletic scholarships for U of T student/athletes donated by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment chair Larry Tanenbaum and his wife Judy Raptors, Leafs owner establishes scholarships for student/athletes

The Guelph Tribune reports on the Gryphon men's latest recruiting class which includes four new players including the third recipient of Guelph's President scholarship in 17 years Gryphons announce recruiting class

Guelph also welcomes back former Toronto Oakwood star Jonathan Moscatelli, who has missed the past 2 season with a pair of severe knee injuries. The Guelph Mercury provides a nice account of Moscatelli's trials and tribulations Basketball Dreams

A nice piece by John Short of the Edmonton Sun inside his column talking about the career successes of Alberta Head Coach Don Horwood Don Horwood Piece in Edmonton Sun

Coming off one of the most successful seasons in the history of the men's basketball program, the Queen's Golden Gaels have a bright future in more ways than one. On the verge of the first Top 10 men's basketball ranking in the history of the program in late January, the Gaels stayed in the race for a home playoff game in what turned out to be the toughest division in the CIS - the OUA East - but ran into some injury troubles and ultimately fell at York in the first round of the OUA East playoffs. But with one of the top freshmen in Canada back in 6'6" Mitch Leger and a solid pair of guards in 6'0" third-year shooting guard Ryan Hairsine and tough 5'11" Baris Ondul, the Gaels have the foundation for continued success. Queen's will have to replace a number of players who have graduated from their academic programs and thus will not be back to play basketball including 6'3" Simon Mitchell, 6'3" Jordan Balaban, 6'6" Cam Eby, 6'4" Kyle McCleery and 6'8" Glen Smith. As well, solid 6'6" post Rob Shaw will undergo knee surgery this week to hopefully fix a problem that plagued him since the early part of last season. Coaches Rob Smart and Duncan Cowan have been working to replace these key players and have verbal commitments from several players - Queen's University sends out academic acceptance letters in mid-to-late April through early May so announcements on the Gaels class will have to wait until recruits are officially accepted into school - stay tuned. More importantly for the longer term, the University has made a $230 million commitment to Gaels athletics, led by A.D. Leslie Dal Cin, which includes the construction of a new gymnasium very close to the current Bartlett Gym. The new facility, forecasted for completion by September 2009, is projected to hold 2,500 people and will be state-of-the-art. This is great news for CIS basketball with another modern basketball facility being built.