CIS Hoops.ca

CIS recruiting confirmations continue to trickle in as we slowly catch up with coaches across the country. Over the past couple of days, the Ottawa Gee-Gees received a commitment from 6'2" lefty Serge Grenon, who led Nouvelle Frontier to a silver medal at "AA" CEGEP this past season. Some describe Grenon's offensive game in the same aggressive, slashing style of a Manu Ginobli. Grenon should compete for time on the wing immediately for James Derouin's squad... McGill has confirmed that 6'6" post Tristan Tremblay, who played CEGEP at Champlain College for new Redmen Assistant coach John Dangelas, will join his ex-coach in downtown Montreal. Tremblay spent last season at the Citadel, an NCAA Division 1 military academy in Charleston, South Carolina, where he redshirted. Tremblay, who compiled a perfect 4.0 GPA, will be eligible to play immediately for the Redmen and promises to shore up their front line... 6'3" Anthony Ashe, who spent the past two seasons at Carleton as a reserve for the Ravens has decided to transfer to Acadia to play for the Axemen. Ashe will sit out this season as a transfer in Wolfville and is scheduled to start his third year of eligibility in 2011-12. Likely the Axemen have plans to use the smooth-shooting Ashe in a similar role to that of the now-departed 6'3" wing Casey Fox. Fox has transfered to Dalhousie and will sit this season out as a transfer with the Tigers in Halifax. Speaking of Dal, Head Coach John Campbell welcomes in another nice recruiting class led by 6'3" combo guard Juleous Grant, originally from Nova Scotia who later transfered to Toronto's Eastern Commerce H.S. before moving on to Northern Oklahoma Junior College, where he spent the past two seasons, averaging 7.1 ppg in his sophomore season. Expect Grant, who will be in his third year of eligibility, to step right in to the Tigers rotation, which loses only 6'2" shooting guard Andrew Sullivan as well as 6'2" Marcus Wong, a reserve for much of the season who's floor time faded toward the end of the season. The Tigers welcome back 6'2" Stephen Lopez, originally from Pickering H.S., who missed much of last season with a knee injury but when healthy provides tremendous athleticism, especially on the defensive end, allowing Dal to play the type of pressure "d" that, when right, can change games for them... Across town in Halifax, long-time skipper Ross Quackenbush looks to find rotation replacements for 6'3" Mark McLaughlin and 6'5" Ike Uchegbu on his Saint Mary's Huskies roster. Quackenbush continues to be impressed by 6'2" guard Harry Ezenibe, who looks to continue the growing Nigerian tradition at Saint Mary's. Ezenibe, who joined the Huskies at Christmas last season and started to get comfortable toward the end of the season, will have a full summer under his belt and should see action at one of the guard/wing spots to show off his explosive athleticism and powerful two foot jumping that help him attack the offensive glass. Quackenbush envisions numerous open court ally-oop hook ups between Ezenibe and his flashy guard Joey Haywood. Adding another piece to the back court, Quackenbush likes 6'1" Jerome Smith, a combination guard who spent the past 3 seasons at Hamilton's Mohawk College after a high school career at St. Thomas More in Hamilton. One of Quackenbush's teammates from the late 70's, Percy Davis, who now lives in New Hampshire, recommended 6'5" Antonio Myles as a potential Huskie and the 3 man commited shortly thereafter; Myles will be a freshman this coming season. Expect Saint Mary's to add at least one more player to their recruiting class as the summer continues.

CIS ALUMNI PLAYING PROFESSIONALLY IN EUROPE: Congratulations to both 6'4" All-Canadian Josh Gibson-Bascombe (Ottawa) and 6'7" Kevin McCleery (Carleton) who both have signed contracts to play in Europe. Gibson-Bascombe will be playing in the Czech Republic while McCleery has signed on to play in Holland; further details should be announced in the coming days but suffice to say another two CIS players will continue their playing careers professionally in Europe. McCleery is the fourth active Raven to play in Europe joining Aaron Doornekamp (Italy), Stuart Turnbull (Germany) and Ryan Bell (Finland). CORRECTION: Mistakenly missed Osvaldo Jeanty who also played in Germany this season. Thanks to the comments for pointing out my obvious error.