Sunday 9 September 2007

CIS Alumni in Europe Update

Good to hear from Jesse Sazant, a former Assistant Coach at Carleton under Paul Armstrong in the mid 90's and also a coach with the Ottawa Guardsmen club program. Sazant, a Canadian who moved to England 7 years ago, is currently the Director of Basketball for the Kent Crusaders in England and has provided us an update on some CIS alumni playing the U.K. Two CIS grads from last season will play in the U.K.: 6'1" Brody Bishop, originally from Prince Rupert, B.C. who played the past 3 seasons at Laurentian for Coach Virgil Hill has signed with the Plymouth Raiders in the British Basketball League (top league) as a dual citizen. According to Sazant, Bishop figures strongly into Plymouth's plans and will likely be the first or second guard off the bench for them. Brody Bishop signs with Plymouth Raiders As well, Sazant's team, Kent Crusaders have signed 6'4" Evan Constantine, who completed his career at Memorial this past season. The Crusaders play in the England Basketball League Division 2. Sazant also offers that other CIS graduates from prior years are also playing in Europe including Walter Moyse (Acadia - AUS 2nd team all-star) is currently entering his 2nd season at Villars Basket in Switzerland, a team that competes in Ligue Nationale B (2nd highest division). Last season Moyse was one of the top 10 scorers and rebounders in the league. Prior to that Moyse played in England for Kent Crusaders and was Player of the Year in the 3rd division. Ryan Marrast (Acadia followed by Lakehead '06) was first forward of the bench for the Worthing Thunder in England Basketball League Division 1 (2nd highest division in England) and the Thunder were league champions. No word on whether or not Marrast has resigned or not yet. Sazant notes that he is trying to help more CIS players get placed on teams over here next year. The Kent Crusaders web site can be found by clicking here . Thanks to Jesse for staying in touch and we look forward to periodic updates from him throughout the season.

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