CIS Hoops.ca

It was a three-team race for first place until late in the season in the "Q" with McGill Redmen, slated by many to battle for a playoff spot in the pre-season given the large roster turnover including the loss of QUBL POY Matt Thornhill, finally bowing out of the race for top spot last weekend when Concordia's Decee Krah hit a pair of late 3's helping the Stingers steal a game with an incredible comeback win.  A loss at last place Bishop's on the same night by Laval Rouge et Or, who had led the standings for much of the year, sealed their fate, allowing Concordia to go from worst-to-first.  The bulk of the Stingers rotation was there last season with one exception:  6'2" Kyle Desmarais.  Desmarais provides Concordia with an athletic ball-handling guard with the underrated value in his game being at the defensive end.  Although he slowed down numbers wise toward the end of the season, as legendary Jersey City St. Anthony high school coach Bob Hurley says "Point guards are ultimately judged by one thing: winning".  And the difference between last season's Stingers and this season's was Desmarais - for this reason, he is the CIS Hoops.ca QUBL Player of the Year. 

QUBL First Team All-Stars
Kyle Desmarais, Concordia
J.F. Beaulieu-Mahieux, Laval
Jerome Turcotte, Laval
Olivier Bouchard, McGill
Decee Krah, Concordia

QUBL Second Team All-Stars
Eric Cote, UQAM
Gregory Saint-Amand, UQAM
Etienne Labrecque, Laval
James Clark, Concordia
Simon Bibeau, McGill

All-Freshman Team
Simon Bibeau, McGill
Alexandre Bernard, UQAM
Vincent Lanctot-Fortier, UQAM
Zack Brisebois, Concordia
Karim Sy-Morissette, McGill
injured but deserves mention Hugues Ryan, Laval
- the all-freshman team selection was very close in my mind especially with Bibeau hitting a wall in January after a terrific start.  Bernard burst on the QUBL scene with his length and athleticism, authoring several spectacular dunks and acrobatic finishes that made him the most exciting rookie and a future force in the Q.  Lanctot-Fortier was steady and solid inside and around the paint and his strength and skill will allow the Citadins to pound the ball inside as his career evolves.  Ryan had arguably the best start of any of the rookies.  However, each of the other candidates was not given the feature roll offensively like Bibeau was - given McGill's roster turnover and lack of dependable veteran scoring, Bibeau was asked to shoulder a big load.  As a result, teams began preparing for and scheming to stop him - all other candidates were on rosters with multiple veteran stars who were feature guys - despite the average finish Bibeau still led all freshman with 13.1 ppg.  For these reasons, Bibeau is my top choice for QUBL Freshman of the Year.

QUBL Playoffs begin this TUESDAY (we earlier said Wednesday) with the semi-finals:

7 PM ET  UQAM at Concordia on SSN Canada
7 PM ET  McGill at Laval  Rouge et Or TV

We plan to have previews of both games in time for Tuesday morning.

Championship game goes Friday night at the home of the highest seed, also at 7 PM.