CIS Hoops.ca

Before we preview this weekend's action, here is an article of interest Steen returns home

This coming weekend will mark the first full set of games among CIS teams as eight different tournaments will take place across the country and 9 of the top 10 teams as identified in the CISHOOPS.ca Pre-season Top 10 will be in action. Virtually every team will be in action this weekend beginning tonight when Alberta hosts Athletes-in-Action at 9:30 PM eastern in Edmonton. Six of the 8 tournaments get underway on Friday with the Thompson Rivers Desert Classic and Brandon Super 8 tournament getting underway on Thursday night. The Brandon tournament, which is a three-day, four-team round robin, hosts two of the top 5 teams in Canada according to our rankings with the host #2 Bobcats and #5 Saskatchewan Huskies. The feature matchup will go Friday night at 9 PM Eastern as the Bobcats host the Huskies. Also participating in the Brandon tournament is an improving Simon Fraser team with solid bigs guys and an experienced back court as well as Lakehead, who returns 2005-06 OUA West scoring champion Kiraan Posey to the lineup after a season's absence. Brandon Super 8 Preview Two other tournaments involve Top 10 teams as the Mickey Place tournament at UPEI in Charlottetown features #8 Brock and #10 Laval plus perennially-tough Cape Breton and the host Panthers who have had a very strong recruiting class. UPEI's tournament is also a three-day, four-team round robin beginning Friday night at 5 PM Eastern with Cape Breton meeting Laval with the pair of top 10 teams tangling on Sunday at Noon Tribute to Mickey Place: UPEI Super Fan. Once again, AUS teams will host the Stu Aberdeen Classic as a pair of non-AUS teams (Victoria and Ryerson) will battle three AUS teams (St. FX, #7 St. Mary's and #9 Acadia) (see full schedule below). The #1 team in the country according to our ranking Carleton Ravens will host their House-Laughton Invitational tournament in Ottawa, welcoming Guelph from OUA West, Dalhousie (AUS) and UQAM (QSSF). Games in Ottawa go Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon and as the note below courtesy of Howard Bloom outlines, games will be available over the Internet House-Laughton Link . Up the highway from Ottawa, the McGill Redmen will host the Redbird Classic in downtown Montreal and #3 Windsor Lancers headline a solid four-team event that includes York, with All-Canadian candidate Tut Ruach, Bishop's Gaiters and the host Redmen. #4 Concordia Stingers will participate in the two-day, four-team Pembina Chrysler tournament at the University of Winnipeg. Last season's CIS Coach-of-the-Year Barnaby Craddock makes his CIS coaching debut in a Great Plains division gym as UCFV and Concordia will cross-over with Manitoba and Winnipeg on Friday and Saturday nights Pembina Chrysler info (scroll down). (More on the Pembina Chrysler Classic, including a coaches clinic, below). The longest-running tournament in the CIS, 40th Naismith Classic at Waterloo features McMaster, Toronto, Calgary and the host Warriors, all perennially strong programs Naismith Classic link . Thompson Rivers hosts their Desert Classic with Lethbridge and two non-CIS teams participating in the three day, four-team event that begins tomorrow night in Kamloops, BC. There is plenty of basketball in Kingston, ON this weekend as well as RMC and Queen's host UNB and Paul Smith's College, an NAIA school situated in the Adorondack Mountains in Paul Smith's, NY participating in the Sunrise Conference. For a complete list of games this weekend, see bottom of this entry.

The Ravens are online!!! This weekend’s House-Laughton Classic will mark the debut of Carleton Ravens basketball being broadcast online and on the radio (in Ottawa) with Canada’s first campus radio station to obtain a broadcast license CKCU-FM 93.1 on your FM dial. This weekend’s games can be heard online only at www.ckcuonline.com. The plans for this weekend are to broadcast all six games of the tournament live online (schedule follows below). Howard Bloom will be handling the play-by-play, joined by former Ravens assistant coach Bill Arden, former Raven Walter Robinson, Kirby Barber and Mark Keeping throughout the 2007-08 season. CKCU’s efforts will culminate with the CKCU crew broadcasting the entire CIS Men’s Basketball tournament online and selected games live on the radio in Ottawa as well from Scotiabank Place the home of the men’s CIS Nationals. Additionally all Ravens women’s home games will be broadcast online as well.

Also, a quick note from Barry Hayes who reminds us that Guelph competed in the House-Laughton tournament in the fall of 2000 with UNB (with Mike Kierstead) and Alberta (with Nick Maglisceau). It was Chris O'Rourke's fourth season as head coach. Alberta ended up winning by a deuce over Carleton in the final game and that was the last time Carleton DIDN'T win the tournament championship. Earlier we had written that Coach O'Rourke's last visit to the House-Laughton was as a player in 1993.

The Pembina Chrysler Invitational Men's Basketball Tournament will be taking place at the Duckworth Centre on the campus of the University of Winnipeg on Friday October 12th and Saturday October 13th. The Wesmen will take on Fraser Valley and Concordia in the two day competition. Friday's game against Fraser Valley will be broadcast live on 1290 CFRW with Paul Edmonds providing the play by play and Steve Thompson adding the color commentary. Tournament passes are available at the Duckworth Customer Service Centre for only $15.00. Please visit www.wesmen.ca for all the game results.

The University of Winnipeg and Pembina Chrysler present the 21st Annual Wesmen Basketball Coaches Clinic on Saturday October 13th. The cost of the clinic is $70.00 and includes six clinic presentations, a Pembina Chrysler Tournament pass (4 games), a Wesmen Athletic season pass and a lunch on Saturday. To register please visit www.wesmen.ca or come to the Duckworth Customer Service Centre.

CIS Schedule for this week:
Oct. 10th Athletes-in-Action at Alberta 9:30 PM
Oct. 11th S.S. Fleming at Western
Oct. 12th Laurier at Laurentian (non-conference)
Mickey Place Tournament at UPEI
Oct. 12th 5pm CBU/Laval; 7pm Brock/UPEI
Oct. 13th 5pm CBU/Brock; 7pm Laval/UPEI
Oct. 14th 12pm Brock/Laval; 2pm CBU/UPEI
House-Laughton Classic at Carleton
Oct. 12 Guelph vs. Dalhousie 6:00 p.m.; UQAM vs. Carleton 8:00 p.m.
Oct. 13 UQAM vs. Dalhousie 6:00 p.m.; Guelph vs. Carleton 8:00 p.m.
Oct. 14 Guelph vs. UQAM 12:00 p.m.; Dalhousie vs. Carleton 2:00 p.m.
Redbird Classic at McGill
Oct. 12 6 PM Windsor vs. Bishop’s; 8 PM York at McGill
Oct. 13 5 PM Bishop's vs. York; 7 PM Windsor at McGill
Oct. 14 2 PM Windsor vs. York; 4 PM Bishop's at McGill
Naismith Classic at Waterloo
Oct. 12 6 PM Toronto vs. McMaster; 8 PM Waterloo vs. Calgary
Oct. 13 6 PM Calgary vs. McMaster; 8 PM Toronto at Waterloo
Oct. 14 2 PM Toronto vs. Calgary; 4 PM McMaster at Waterloo
Thompson Rivers Desert Classic (starts Thursday 11th)
Oct. 11 8:30 PM Lethbridge vs. AIA; 10:30 PM Quest vs. TRU
Oct. 12 8:30 PM Quest vs. AIA; 10:30 PM Lethbridge vs. TRU
Oct. 13 4:30 PM Lethbridge vs Quest; 7:30 PM AIA vs. TRU
Brandon Super 8 Tournament (starts Thursday 11th)
Oct. 11 7 PM Saskatchewan vs Simon Fraser; 9 PM Brandon vs. Lakehead
Oct. 12 7 PM Lakehead vs. Simon Fraser; 9 PM Saskatchewan at Brandon
Oct. 13 7 PM Saskatchewan vs Lakehead; 9 PM Brandon vs. Simon Fraser
Pembina Chrysler Tournament (Winnipeg)
Oct. 12 Manitoba vs. Concordia; Winnipeg vs. UCFV
Oct. 13 Manitoba vs. UCFV; Winnipeg vs. Concordia
Stu Aberdeen Challenge in Atlantic Canada
Oct. 12 5 PM Victoria at St. Francis Xavier
Oct. 12 5 PM Ryerson at St. Mary’s
Oct. 13 5 PM Ryerson at Acadia
Oct. 13 5 PM Victoria at Saint Mary's
Oct. 14 11 AM Victoria at Acadia
Oct. 14 1 PM Ryerson at St. FX
RMC/Queen’s hosting non-conference games
Oct. 12 8 PM Paul Smith College (NAIA Sunrise Conference) at Queen’s
Oct. 12 6 PM UNB at RMC
Oct. 13 6 PM UNB at Queen’s
Oct. 13 8 PM Paul Smith College (NAIA Sunrise Conference) at RMC
Oct. 14 11:30 AM Paul Smith College (NAIA) vs. UNB at RMC