CIS Hoops.ca

Plenty more on the Brandon situation from David Larkins who does such a tremendous job following and reporting on the Bobcats. Through these links which take you to David's "The Point After" site, you'll find that not only has Brandon lost its CIS Coach-of-the-year for men's basketball Barnaby Craddock but could lose its Athletic Director Rick Nickelchok to the vacant post at Acadia. I got the opportunity to meet Nickelchok at the Nationals in March and he is a strong and, more importantly, active supporter of CIS sports who appears to understand the value of marketing and communications among other things. The article also cites sources saying that Brian Heaney, TSN basketball analyst and Acadia alumnus, could also be in the running for the Acadia AD job. Once again, a great job by Dave keeping the basketball community aprised of the situation in Brandon. There are four articles in the set (scroll down to Wednesday's entry if you want to read them chronologically) including an article that appeared in the Brandon Sun David Larkins Blog on the Brandon situation


As mentioned yesterday, Queen's published a report on their athletics and recreation programs and Claude Scilley, as usual, has a tremendous piece analyzing the facts and drawing some very intelligent conclusions. Queen's reviews its athletics programs; Hockey's future in question as panel ranks university's sports

Another interesting note which I feel shows the power of properly marketing a university's sports properties is outlined in the following factoid as presented by Scilley in his article: By the numbers:
1,013 - Number of queen's students involved in interuniversity teams or clubs
$126.63 - Amount each student contributes toward athletics and recreation each year through ancillary fees
10 - Rank among Ontario universities for per capita student athletic support
16.0 - Percentage of total student fees that goes to athletics and recreation
3 - number of Ontario universities with a lower percentage of total student fees going to athletics (Trent, McMaster, Ryerson)

The BOLDED fact shows that only 3 other universities spend a lower percentage of total student fees on athletics including Trent, Ryerson and McMaster. In McMaster's, this is a strong positive indicator; for many years, led by the very underrated Robert Hilson, McMaster has generated tremendous revenues from their athletic programs - at the gate, through sponsorships and through philanthropic donations - working towards a model of self-sufficiency. The fact that Mac is able to limit the amount they need to tax their students for athletics (money which can be used for other purposes including academic needs or simply to make school less expensive) shows the power of strategic marketing and branding in athletics. Several universities across the country are waking up to the realization of the power of this approach and investing in strategic marketing efforts; sadly, some university's athletic directors refuse to act even when the possibilities of success are staring them directly between the eyes.

CANADA WEST: Howard Tsumura, the Vancouver Province reporter who is so active with high school and university/college sports, has published a pair of articles recently. The first describes the great job UBC has done with their fundraising, reaching the $1 million level for their athletic scholarship endowment T-Birds' hoops scholarship fund passes $1m Golf tourney helps push UBC program to impressive total. The second article recaps in great detail all recruits for Canada West men's basketball for the coming season Graduating List

Carleton's campus newspaper, the Charlatan, summarizes some of the key points to come out of last week's CIS AGM The Highlight Reel: CIS AGM

A nice story in a recent edition of the Toronto Sun on Curtis MacLean from the Jane & Finch area of Toronto who aspires to referee in the NBA one day and may be closer than one might think to realizing his dream Private eye is courting success

FIBA News: For those fans wanting to follow the myriad of international basketball competitions going on this summer, bookmarking the following page could be for you as FIBA announces that LIVE STATS! will be available for all key games across both men's and women's tournaments through various web sites. This article provides a summary of all the tournaments and links to the web sites where LIVE STATS! can be followed. We are still looking to produce information on the possibility of video for games involving Canada throughout the summer. Live statistics from the three FIBA World Championships and all FIBA Zone Continental Championships available online

Argentina has named their U19 squad for the FIBA World U19 championships in Serbia Argie's U19 Team Also, Argentina's head coach Sergio Hernandez lashes out at 5 players who failed to report to camp in preparation for the Pan-Am Games Hernandez lashes out

6'5" guard Tyreke Evans, one of the top seniors-to-be in U.S. high school, is among the favorites to earn a spot with USA basketball's U19 team that is preparing for Serbia and the FIBA World U19 championships Star guard shoots down Louisville rumour