CIS Hoops.ca

** CORRECTION/APOLOGY ** My apologies for making the claim that there were whispers that not getting a week off in prior Nationals was mentioned as a reason for CW teams not being ready for the Nationals. In fact, as several have pointed out and I have since checked, for at least the last 5 years, Canada West Nationals participants have had at least one week off between their Final Four and the nationals. My apologies...

First of all, tremendous thank you to Dale Stevens for providing updates on the site for the two evening games, despite playing through a severe cold. Dale has proven his loyalty to our game for over 15 years with his very informative discussion list that has communicated stories about the CIS across the country. I appreciate Dale's efforts in providing commentary throughout the day. I was fortunate enough to do the colour commentary on the Streaming Sports Network for the two evening games between Laval and Acadia and Carleton/Alberta. Much thanks to Bengt Neathery, President of SSN, who has made a significant up front investment in the technology and resources needed to deliver games across the country. It is important to SSN to deliver top quality webcasts (which sometimes is inconsistent with their choice of colour men as those who watched the two evening games can attest) and I would encourage you to send any feedback, positive or otherwise, on these webcasts to me and I can forward to Bengt and team. Much thanks also to Mark Masters, with whom I had a great time doing commentary, and Matt Cavanaugh, who was produced/directed (this is where my technical knowledge drops off) all the games and guided us through things. One thing I did get from Matt with respect to quality of the broadcast is apparently cable internet access and less than 100 Meg service is not suitable for live, real time webcasting. I'll confirm the exact technical specifications required. Needless to say, a big thanks to Streaming Sports Network for their investment in CIS men's basketball.

Each of the first four games had their share of intrigue and underlying storylines, starting with the poise Western showed down the stretch of the first game of the day against Saint Mary's. The Mustangs, who look to their perimeter players to provide much of their offense but do get some inside scoring, seemed to get the butterflys out early in the first quarter after their leader, 6'1" Matt Curtis knocked down a three with confidence. As many have likely heard by now, the game was a comingout party for Mustangs 5'11" freshman guard Ryan Barbeau, who played with the poise of a veteran, taking good shots and finishing in transition. But the biggest contribution Barbeau may have made was the job he did hounding Saint Mary's 6'2" Mark McLaughlin, keeping McLaughlin in front of him and then with the game on the line, forcing the slick Huskies guard into a turnover before he could attempt the game tying shot. Western was in control for much of the game as Curtis and 6'1" Jason Milliquet kept things honest from the perimeter and, led by 6'6" Brad Smith, got their high-low game going, but only after Coach Brad Campbell made a very early substitution, sending Smith to the bench with a reminder that hanging around the perimeter was a ticket to watching the game from the sidelines. Smith quickly got the message and made life tough for the Huskies, getting 6'5" Ike Uchegbu in foul trouble and staking Western to leads as large as 14. The Huskies unfortunately went away from their offense, settling too many times for the feast-or-famine one-on-one game. The one time they actually ran a nice set in the first half, Uchegbu got an easy layup. While Western does do a good job defending as a team, they show inconsistent lapses over the course of 40 mintues and it was during one of those lapses that 6'1" Shane Morrison got going, getting to the rim off the dribble. The Mustangs, behind Barbeau's heroics, were able to close out the game via a 6-0 run late created as much by poor Saint Mary's decision making and shot selection as by Western's "d". The Mustangs magical ride through the post season, which according to some very close to the Western program could easily have ended against both Mac and Windsor in the OUA West playoffs, continues tonight against the veteran Brock Badgers... The talented Badgers showed their loyal fans a frustrating paradox of spectacular ball movement and shot making on some possessions combined with terrible decisions and standing around on other possessions. But Brock got it done with a herculean fourth-quarter effort from 6'7" Owen White (13 points including several dazzling inside moves) and the usual big plays down the stretch from 5'10" Brad Rootes. As well, the Badgers defended very well for the most part, especially in key stretches in the game when they had to dig in to gut out a win over UBC. The T-Birds streak of first-round flame outs at the Nationals continues and UBC simply is too inconsistent at both ends to be a legitimate threat at these tournaments. Early on, 6'8" Bryson Kool played with energy and passion with Brock unable to find an answer for him. Unfortunately, his touches were limited for the rest of the game, in part due to Brock dropping back into a zone but keeping Kool in the game offensively did not happen. Head Coach Kevin Hanson had little patience with the play of starting point guard Brett Leversage as 6'1" Alex Murphy got the bulk of the minutes at the point, quickly subbing in very early in the third quarter after some poor decisions by Leversage. 6'3" Chris Dyck, billed as UBC's best offensive player for good reason, had his second consecutive mediocre performance in a first round game (he did not play his best last season against Ottawa in the 1st round as well). Both Dyck and 6'6" Brent Malish could not make shots from the perimeter (UBC was 3 for 17 from downtown). As well, 6'7" Matt Rachar was generally quiet. In the end, this was a UBC team that was in somewhat of a rebuilding mode after losing 6'4" Casey Archibald and several other key rotation members to graduation. It can be argued that this group, as young as they are, actually overachieved in getting this far. But the monkey remains on their backs. As well, I couldn't help but be a little perplexed at a comment attributed to Hanson alluding to the one-week layoff as possibly affecting how the T-Birds performed. While there may be some merit to that notion, if memory serves, in past years the whispers were that playing the weekend prior in the West and then having to travel to Halifax to play on Thursday or Friday also created some discomfort. UBC is a great program with solid players and coaches that hopefully will be back and better for their experience in Ottawa this year... The Laval Acadia game was also a game of runs with le Rouge et Or taking an early 8 point lead on the wonderful offensive skills of 6'7" J.P. Morin and 6'3" J.F. Beaulieu-Mahieux. Early in the game, Laval was able to control the glass and, led by 6'8" Marc-Andre Cote, was able to limit the comfort level of 6'5" All-Canadian Leonel Saintil. However, once Saintil turned the effort level up another notch, le Rouge et Or were no match for him inside and on the offensive glass. Acadia had 10 offensive rebounds in the first half alone to take a commanding lead into halftime. 6'1" Andrew Kraus was very impressive at the point, keeping the Axemen in the game early with a pair of threes and then taking over in the third quarter by continually beating his check off the dribble, basically getting where ever he wanted on the floor to either finish or find Saintil and 6'5" Sean Berry for easy scores after drawing help. With Kraus continually scorching 5'9" Xavier Baribeau off the dribble, it appeared the route was on. But Laval coach Jacques Paiement inserted 5'9" fifth-year backup point Etienne Wilsey into the game and Wilsey did a masterful job stopping dribble penetration with his quick feet and solid defensive posture. With Acadia somewhat stimied offensively, Beaulieu-Mahieux, who has one of the sweetest strokes on the nation, and 6'4" F.O. Gagnon-Hebert, with some nice finishes inside, quickly got Laval back in the game. However, a key play in the game came after 6'4" Jerome Turcotte blocked a shot and then, in the ensuing scrum, tried to pass the ball out. Unfortunately, two of his Laval teammates had leaked out and the ball came to Berry, who laid it in and got fouled, and Acadia was never headed after that. Berry made at least two huge plays down the stretch and then iced the game at the free throw line. In the night cap, Carleton had a miserable shooting effort from downtown and down the stretch at the free throw line but got their usual versatile effort from scrappy 6'7" Aaron Doornekamp and 6'2" Stu Turnbull, who got to the rim at key points in the game to win by 9. Alberta was extremely well prepared and, after holding off an initial Raven run, found themselves within 5 in the third quarter and with the momentum. I was particularly impressed with 6'5" Harvey Bradford, who did a great job battling tooth-and-nail with Doornekamp all evening and was the offensive catalyst for the Bears during their third quarter run which brought the game back. At that point, the Bears were scoring on almost every possession and leaving Carleton to numerous one-and-done possessions. But the fouls started to mount for Alberta; in the end 4 starters fouled out. 6'2" Alex Steele, CW POY, finished with 13 points but found out why many believe 6'4" Ryan Bell is the best defender in the nation. Steele made a couple of 3's, including the only time all night he was left wide open after a rare poor Carleton defensive rotation but, despite his obviously-quick first step, Bell was able to stay with the slick guard. Steele also quickly took advantage of a possession when he wasn't being guarded by Bell, getting to the rim against 6'2" Rob Saunders. Unfortunately, as was the case in the Laval/Acadia game, the referees in many spots were very quick with their whistles, making some calls that appeared perplexing and at worst were no calls. In the end, coach Don Horwood had enough and took a technical, which sealed his team's fate but Horwood and team are lamenting the fact that they probably didn't get a chance to properly test themselves against the Ravens due to all the foul trouble. Still, if the Ravens shoot the ball at anywhere near their usual accuracy, because they had plenty of open looks, and the Ravens make their free throws, it's a 15 to 20 point game in my opinion.... I'd love to post more and actually review what I just wrote but my family calls...


Also, thanks to those who advised that another name needs to be added to the list of 4 time All-Canadians. Ottawa native Tim Mau (Guelph) was a 4 time All-Canadian as follows: – 89-90, 90-91(2nd), 91-92, 92-93