CIS Hoops.ca

Head Coach Chris O'Rourke (Guelph) and his staff which includes Darrell Glenn (Humber) and Dave DeAveiro (Ottawa) are about 36 hours away from reassembling Canada's Student team with 14 players destined for Burnaby, B.C. and the campus of Simon Fraser University in preparation for the FISU Games in Thailand beginning August 7th. Recall that 14 athletes were originally selected after the main Canada Basketball spring camp at Durham College in Oshawa. Since the camp, 6'4" Casey Archibald, expected to be in the rotation for Thailand, signed a professional contract in Austria and he will be leaving shortly to join his professional team and will unfortunately miss the FISU Games. In addition to the 13 remaining players on the roster, a fourteenth player, Vancouver native Tyler Kepkay, who has signed a letter of intent to join the Utah Utes after a First Team NCJAA season at the College of Eastern Utah this past season, will work out with the Student team. Summer school committments prevented Kepkey from participating in the main camp in Oshawa and Kepkay, who has a reputation as a solid, long-range perimeter scorer, could be an able replacement for Archibald's offense. The coaching staff can only take a roster of 12 to Thailand so 2 cuts will have to be made over 6 practices in 4 days beginning Saturday, when Canada will work out once at Simon Fraser. The team will then will have two-a-days on Sunday and Monday, followed by their final training on Canadian soil Tuesday before departing for Thailand on Wednesday, August 1st. Once in Thailand, Canada will have 3 days to prepare including a scrimmage against Australia before their opening game against the host Thailand squad, scheduled for August 7th at 4:30 PM local (5:30 AM Eastern time). Canada comes right back 14 hours later (August 8th in Thailand and 9:30 PM Eastern time on August 7th) to face New Zealand. The FISU Games men's basketball tournament has 24 teams, evening divided up among 8 groups of 3. The top 2 teams in each of the 8 pools advance to the next round of 16. The 14 players scheduled to centralize at Simon Fraser this Saturday are:

Point Guards: 6'0" Tristan Blackwood (Central Connecticut State/Toronto, ON Eastern Commerce), 6'4" Josh Gibson-Bascombe (Ottawa, Toronto, ON Jarvis), 6'3" Jamie McNeilly (New Orleans, Scarborough, ON, Mother Teresa)
Wings: 6'3" Garry Gallimore (St.FX, Ottawa,ON, Woodroffe), 6'6" Max Gosselin (Davidson, Carignan, PQ, College St.Lambert), 6'6" Jevohn Shepperd (Michigan, Scarborough, ON, West Hill), 6'0" Tyler Kepkay (Utah, Vancouver, BC, Handsworth)
Forwards: 6'7" Ross Bekkering (Calgary, Taber, AL), 6'8" Theo Davis (Gonzaga, Toronto, ON), 6'6" Jacob Doerksen (Victoria, Abbotsford, BC; Rick Hansen H.S.), 6'6" Willie Gallick (Naniamo, BC, Pepperdine last season, transfering to Cal State-Northridge), 6'10" Neil MacDonald (St. FX, Sydney Mines, NS), 6'7" J.P. Morin (Laval, Gatineau, PQ, Montmorency), 6'10" Scott Morrison (Portland State, Vancouver, BC; Argyle S.S.).