CIS Hoops.ca

The progress made by the Acadia Axemen over the past two seasons has been nothing short of sensational. Coach Les Berry inherited a program reeling from a 2004-05 mid-season coaching change that left the team in the hands of a coach who's first sport was football. In Berry's first season in Wolfville (2005-06), the Axemen went only 5-23 overall including 2-17 in the AUS but even then Coach Berry was laying the foundation for success, bringing in 6'1" Paolo Santana as his prize recruit from Toronto but also 6'5" Shawn Berry from Brampton and 6'5" Luckern Dieu from Montreal to join 6'8" Ash Lual (Ottawa), the one holdover from '04-'05. Berry had his challenges in the his first year but added a tremendous recruiting class in time for his second year led by 6'2" Andrew Kraus at the point, allowing him to move Santana to the wing for spurts, and giving more time to 6'1" Peter Leighton, who the country found out Saturday night what basketball fans on the East coast have known for a few year: he can flat out shoot the ball. 6'0" Pat McIver also arrived last season but 6'5" Leonel Saintil, thus far Acadia's most prized recruit, came in last season but was forced to sit out after transfering from Memorial. With that, Acadia had the pieces in place to make a move up the AUS table, which they did last season, making the playoffs and then ripping through the AUS tournament en route to the conference championship. But, in retrospect, one game could likely be pointed in which the Axemen matured: last season's loss at the Nationals to Carleton. It turned out to be a watershed moment in this young team's progress and the group could have gone one of two ways. Leighton's reaction, shooting 300 jumpers a day in the summer to get ready for this season and a possible rematch with Carleton, epitomized the resiliant attitude of the Axemen. With the move into the starting lineup this season of Saintil after sitting out for transfer rules, Acadia had a legitimate post threat and the puzzle pieces were virtually all in place. The Axemen started the season with an early October win in Moncton against Saint Mary's in what turned out to be a preview of the AUS championship. The teams met again in the championship game of the UNB tournament with the Huskies claiming a three point win followed up shortly thereafter by a 4 point win in Wolfville to start the AUS season. The Axemen went to the Christmas break ranked in the Top 5 but promptly lost their opening game of the tournament to Calgary by 11 in a game in which they trailed by 20 very early. Acadia rebounded to defeat Brandon in what turned out to be a game that likely tipped the scales toward them in the wild card. However, the Axemen hit the low point of their season the following day in a double overtime loss to Manitoba, which was destined for a last-place finish in Canada West's Great Plains division. With the national scribes questioning how good this team was, the Axemen showed their resolve and won the first 6 games back after the break including victories over Saint Mary's in the first game after the break and Cape Breton. However, the Axemen lost the rematch to the Capers back in Sydney and faced St. FX the next day in Antigonish. Coming off a road loss during a long trip playing back-to-back and with first place and a high national ranking on the line, the Axemen produced by far their best effort of the season to that point, blasting X right out of the Oland Center 92-63, X's worst home loss in decades. Jumping out to a 14 point halftime with 8 different Axemen hitting the board, the Axemen proved they were for real, starting an eight game winning streak that ended in the AUS tournament championship game. By now, you know most of the rest as Acadia put on a gutty defensive performance led by Lual and found their range from the perimeter behind Leighton to slay the mighty Carleton Ravens. Acadia will have to replace a pair of starters in 6'8" Lual and 6'5" Berry but the other six players in their main rotation are scheduled to return including the past two AUS POY's in Saintil (going into 4th) and Santana (going into 5th). Kraus, who has improved steadily throughout his career and did a very underrated job handling, defending and looking for his offense this weekend, has 3 more years as the Axemen's floor leader. With Leighton (4th) and McIver (3rd), Acadia has proven clutch shooters from the perimeter and Dieu (5th) should move back into the starting lineup, pending the arrival of any new recruits. Acadia is back as an annual contender in the AUS and on the national scene... Bitter disappointment gripped a number of Carleton fans we were able to see and talk to immediately after the game in a couple arena watering holes. Having watched their Ravens continually defy the odds and win virtually every close game, the sense in the building was, at least midway through the fourth quarter of regulation that Carleton would right things and come back. But as Acadia met every Raven challenge and/or the Ravens missed several opportunities to win the game with final possessions or at the foul line, for the first time in several years the mood in the building appeared to change and the inevitable didn't happen. Carleton Head Coach Dave Smart was understandably disappointed but very gracious in quickly giving full credit to Acadia, especially shooting guard Peter Leighton, for making numerous big plays when they mattered most. Smart appropriately seeked out Leighton after the game on the floor after the handshake line to personally congratulate the Nova Scotia native on a tremendous effort. He gave full credit to Acadia for making big plays and doing a solid job defensively, especially 6'8" Ash Lual on 6'7" Aaron Doornekamp. Offensively, down the stretch, he felt his group "got to the areas on the floor where we felt we would be able to make something positive happen" but lamented the fact that "their length really gave us problems finding passing lanes when we got there". He basically agreed that with the hot shooting of Leighton, it was difficult to pinch down on Saintil inside, providing the athletic center with more room to operate off the high/low. Smart was also very sincere in his comments about "feeling really bad for our kids, many of who are taking this tough". All in all, Smart was surprisingly upbeat considering the loss, gave full credit to Coach Les Berry and his players and accentuated the positive that he and the group will learn from the loss... About 30 coaches participated in a series of annual meetings addressing several topics. First of all, I want to personally thank every coach in the country who made my life easier by being accessible after games via the telephone or email. In some cases, coaches were proactive in calling me, some even after bad losses. Those who have supported this site know who they are and rest assured I am grateful for the support and the gesture made after this weekend's meetings. I trust that together we're helping to grow what is a tremendous product and we look forward to continuing to increase the profile of CIS basketball. One of the major topics discussed was revising the format for the Nationals with several new ideas put forth. The format I find most appealing is one that retains the Final 8 but with a 16 team format. I believe it is important to maintain the Final 8 format as I'm not convinced that the economics of a Final 4 with only 3 meaningful games instead of 7 will work. Under this proposed scenario, the four conference winners advance directly to the Final 8 while the remaining 12 teams (selection process to be decided), participate in 3 mini-regionals across the country. The winners of those three regionals would advance to the Nationals and then an eighth team would be selected via a wild card process. Scheduling the mini-regionals relative to the Final 8 would be somewhat challenging as the 4 winners may have to sit out longer than they might like. As well, all conferences would likely have to go to a weekend tournament format like the AUS and Canada West have currently. But the scenario works because it legitimizes the conference championship and also allows for more programs and players to participate in the experience of a sudden-death, tournament-like setting against teams from outside their conference. The business case for the mini-regionals has been discussed however many of the details likely still need to be worked out. It is important to note that these scenarios are in the idea stage and much work remains to actually change the format but the discussions were clearly active and progressive in my opinion... Attendance at the event was a much-discussed and often-debated topic. Having now seen 12 games over 5 different days, including the pair of Capital Hoops Classic games that each legitimately drew over 9,000 fans, I've got a reasonable feel for how announced numbers stack up against how many are actually in the stands. Saturday night, without question, was the most exciting CIS game I have ever attended, definitely passing the first Capital Hoops Classic by the time the first overtime began and then well exceeding it with all the tremendous twists and turns that had fans emotionally exhausted by the end. It definitely appeared that at least the announced number of 9,316 fans were there on Saturday, giving the game the look and feel of a big-time game. Much of the informal chat after Saturday's game centered on what Sunday's crowd might be, what with the host Ravens not in the championship game. It was very gratifying to look around and see what I would view as between 7,500 and 8,000 fans at Sunday's final (announced crowd of 8,251), including many Carleton fans supporting the tournament despite their team's loss the night before. As well, the majority of suites were full and both teams displayed their colours in sections of the arena, making noise and again giving the event a big time feel. One area of improvement for next season could be to try to fill or possibly somehow cover the seats behind the baskets. Several photos show many empty seats which did not do the crowd or the atmosphere proper justice...

Final attendance figures:

Friday:
Game One: 7,385
Game Two: 7,385
Game Three: 8,434
Game Four: 8,610

Saturday:
Game One: 7,180
Game Two: 7,180
Game Three: 9,196
Game Four: 9,316

Sunday:
Game One: 8,251
Game Two: 8,251

Also, according to Neate Sager on the CIS Blog, the SCORE's average audience for the tournament was 77,000, a record. (see more below)

MORE: Sources indicate that preliminary audience numbers for Saturday night's game on the Score were 110,000, which is incredible for a CIS event. We hope to have more view on the incremental numbers as the game progressed, which are likely to be considerably higher. The 110,000 figure could be the highest television audience ever for a CIS event.

THANKS: A tremendous thank you goes out to the entire organizing committee led by Jennifer Brenning, Director of Athletics at Carleton, Cyril Leeder, Cheif Operating Officer of Scotiabank Place and David Kent, who did tireless work ensuring the media was well taken care of. Carleton and Scotiabank Place did an incredible job in their first go-around and, knowing the people involved, will consider all the comments and suggestions and apply their learnings to improving the event next year and beyond. There were many others who made the weekend memorable including the legions of press who ensured the event was blanketed with coverage: Wayne Kondro and his tireless work promoting the game, Dale Stevens, Neate Sager, Chris Kallan, Howard Bloom, Michel Belanger and many other new faces; the entire staff at SSN Canada for making all games available on the Internet including Bengt Neathery, Matt Kavanaugh, Mark Masters and Kevin Burton; Tim Micallef, Sherman Hamilton and Arash Madani of the SCORE, all classy and humble individuals who helped make the broadcasts tremendous (congratulations on the ratings !) and many, many others who I've probably overlooked and not forgotten. This event should continue to grow.