Wednesday 26 December 2007

CIS Holiday Tournament Preview

There are three major CIS Holiday Tournaments scheduled for the coming days with all three involving Top 10 teams in the latest CISHOOPS.CA rankings. Probably the most interesting of the opening round games will happen in Winnipeg at the 41st Wesmen Classic where #2 Acadia meets #4 Calgary and #3 Brandon meets Brock, a team on the verge of a Top 10 ranking. These teams have been placed on the same side of the draw so all 4 teams will have tough games in the first two days with one team advancing to Sunday's championship game at the Duckworth Center. In Halifax, probably the most interesting first round matchup pits #9 Ottawa Gee-Gees against St. Mary's Huskies, which finished the first half of the season strong after slumping somewhat in mid-November. The tournament also has #6 Concordia Stingers and St. Francis Xavier X-Men, another team on the verge of a Top 10 ranking. At Ryerson University in Toronto, the Varsity Blues/McGill Redmen matchup in the first round of the Ed Dearmon Memorial tournament should be exciting.

41st Wesmen Classic at Winnipeg: #2 Acadia, #3 Brandon, #4 Calgary, Brock, Winnipeg, Manitoba, RMC, Minot State

FIRST ROUND: Friday, December 28th (First Round)
1 PM ET/NOON CT Brock (8-9) vs. #3 Brandon (13-3) Both teams could easily push the century mark in a game involving pair of teams who love to push the tempo. The Badgers hope to have 6'2" Rohan Steen ready after missing the latter part of the first half with an ankle injury. On occasions when the game is played in the half court, look for Brandon to run their offense through 6'5" Adam Hartman, who can finish but also is an excellent passer out of the low blocks. Brock hopes that their young bench matures to add depth to their solid first six. Maybe the most interesting matchup is between Brock's prolific point guard 5'10" Brad Rootes and athletic 6'1" Yul Michel, a strong ball defender. Expect 6'3" Mike Kemp to match up with Brandon's 6'3" Dany Charlery when the Badgers go man.

3 PM ET/2 PM CT #2 Acadia (10-2) vs. #4 Calgary (11-2) Expect a battle to be waged inside as the Dinos combination of Henry and Ross Bekkering do battle with CIS rebounding leader 6'5" Leonel Saintil. Both teams have had success attacking the offensive glass. Guard play could decide this game.

Other Games:
7 PM ET/6 PM CT RMC (0-12) at Winnipeg (6-8)
9 PM ET/8 PM CT Minot State (4-8) vs. Manitoba (2-13)

Saturday, December 29th (Semi-Finals - Championship & Consolation)
Sunday, December 30th (Championship Game plus 3rd, 5th and 7th Place games)
Complete Wesmen Classic Draw

Rod Shoveller Memorial Tournament at Dalhousie University in Halifax; Dec.28-30: Dalhousie, Ottawa, Concordia, Laurentian, Laurier, St. Francis Xavier, St. Mary's, UNB
FIRST ROUND: Fri., December 28th (all games listed as Atlantic Time)
1 PM #5 Concordia (7-2) vs. UNB (2-14) The Stingers will likely look to push the pace offensively and use their athleticism to pressure the ball while the Varsity Reds hope to get their three-point shooting game in gear.

3:00 PM #9 Ottawa (11-3) vs St. Mary's (13-4) Both teams have several athletes who love to push up on the ball defensively, get to the rim and occasionally provide in-game "play-by-play" to their opponents. An interesting matchup could be Huskies 6'1" Shane Morrison against Gee-Gees 6'4" Josh Gibson-Bascombe, both natives of Toronto, while the Gee-Gees will look to negate the fine play of 6'3" Mark McLaughlin, likely with 6'3" Sean Peter. Up front, a healthy 6'5" Ike Uchegbu faces off against emerging 6'9" Dax Dessureault. 6'5" Aaron Duncan could be the x-factor in this game.

Other Games:
6:00 PM Laurier (5-9) vs. St.FX (10-6)
8:00 PM Laurentian (2-12) vs. Dalhousie (8-7)
Schoveller Tournament link

Ed Dearmon Memorial Tournament at Ryerson: Ryerson, Laval, Toronto, McGill, Lakehead, Western

FIRST ROUND: Friday, December 28th, 2007 (all games listed as Eastern time)
2 PM York (2-13) vs. Laval (7-7)
4 PM Queen's (10-4) vs. Western Ontario (7-7) These teams meet for the third time this season with Queen's winning both of the previous games, one a league game and both played at Alumni Hall at Western. The Mustangs will have 6'9" D1 transfer Colin Laforme in the lineup for this game however prized 6'6" transfer Keenan Jeppesen will not play and his status for the remainder of the season is questionable.
6 PM Ryerson (4-10) vs. Waterloo (4-10) A rematch of a November league game in which the Rams came from behind to defeat the Warriors.
8 PM #10 Toronto (13-4) vs. McGill (8-5) The most interesting matchup of the first round pits the Redmen, who have succeeded playing up-tempo basketball, against the Varsity Blues who generally look to control the tempo but can get out and run as well.

Saturday, December 29th (Semi-Finals - Championship & Consolation)
Sunday, December 30th (Championship Game plus 3rd, 5th and 7th Place games)

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