Gaiters Struggle @ House-Laughton

Friday vs. Victoria

BU          10   15   20   13  -  58

UVIC     20   22   19   19  -  80

UVIC is likely to be a top 5 team in the first set of TOP TEN rankings and we definitely were going to have our hands full either way as were playing without Jeremy and back up point guard Kurt Caro due to injury. We started the game with seven 1st quarter turnovers. UVIC is an excellent defensive team, but the majority of those were unforced and we helped dig ourselves a big hole early in the game. In addition to that, UVIC simply played harder and better than us. It was our least inspiring performance of the weekend.

To make matters worse we lost a 2nd starter to injury in the 1st quarter. Matt McLean injured his back and would be out the rest of the weekend. His status for this week in Saskatchewan is questionable.

Saturday vs. Carleton

BU     11   13   15   16  - 55

CU     30   27   17   13  - 87

Despite the score I was relatively pleased with our effort and some of the execution. Based on our performance the night before and the fact we were playing without 2 starters and our back up PG this could have been way worse. Often when you are down 33 at the half to Carleton you lose by 50 or more! They don't stop playing hard, ever. So, to outscore them in the second half was a small victory for us at this point.

Carleton schooled us in the 1st half though making 11 of 17 three point shots. Any mistake we made we paid for. Our guys did a good job of making adjustments in the 2nd half offensively and defensively though. With our injury and experience situation we are simply not ready to beat a team like Carleton right now. Regardless, I really liked how our guys competed the whole time.

Despite the disappointment of starting the season 2-4 I am not overly concerned. We are learning to deal with adversity and are maintaining our team chemistry. We are being tested in a variety of ways, but we have the right people on our team and the right athletes to be able to get through this.When the smoke finally clears I am confident we will be back to playing the way everyone expects us to be.

Big Mike led us with 20 pts, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks  & 3 steals. Might have been his best game as a Gaiter as it was against the best CIS competition.  Onnex added 10 points.

Sunday vs. Lakehead

BU     21   17   14   18  - 70

LU     13   15   24   26  - 78

We let one slip away here. We built an 18 point 2nd quarter lead before we squandered that away. To build that lead we executed well offensively and defensively. Lakehead has a couple of 7 footers, but our bigs were still able to score inside and we were able to get pretty much what we wanted. Then a couple of things changed: they went to a smaller line-up with a zone defense, we got into foul trouble which only magnified our lack of depth due to injuries.  We struggled after that and by the end of the 3rd quarter game was tied. In the 4th Lakehead was able to take control of the game in final couple of minutes. Without a doubt a disappointing loss, but Lakehead is not a bad team either. They are young in some areas, but they play hard and do not lack talent. This was a game that we will definitely learn a lot from and it will change our season for the better in the long run. Onnex led us with 18 points & 9 rebounds. Jona & Mike added 16 and 15 respectively while Majid contributed 10. This Wednesday we head to the Graham Shootout in Saskatoon to face Calgary, Saskatchewan and Toronto. So, our schedule does not get easier, but our guys would not want it any other way.  Should get easier the following week when we face our Alumni though. I hope! I will keep you posted.

Gaiters Go 2-1 at Tindall Classic

Friday vs. Ryerson

BU       17  13   14   26  -  70
RU       23  27   23   22  -  95

Ryerson is without a doubt one of the better teams in the CIS, but we were not ourselves in this game. We were overly concerned with Ryerson's strengths and not focused enough on what we do well. As the head coach I will take total responsibility for that. Regardless, a good lesson was learned and I am happy it was learned in the first game of the year and not the last!

Defensively we were one of the better teams in the CIS statistically last year. That was not apparent in this game as Ryerson shot 53% for the game and had their way with us. We did not test Ryerson in anyway and they pretty much controlled game from the 2nd quarter on.

Not a lot of highlights to report on with this game from a BU perspective. 4 of our starters combined to go 4-17 from the floor...not winning games that way! 5th year guard Onnex Blackwood had a solid game offensively scoring 15 while 2nd year guard Jona Bermillo had 13 off the bench. Our international addition, 6'11 Majid Naji from France, had 17 and showed flashes of what we can expect from him. Majid has not played in a year and is not exactly in game shape yet, but he is very talented.

Saturday vs. Queen's 

BU       19   14   20   27  -  80
QU       17   14   20   21  -  72

After a brief identity crisis in the Ryerson game we were able to get back to what made us successful last season...our defense. Queen's had made 16 of 31 three point shots the night before vs. Manitoba and we knew we had to defend the 3 point shot. Our guys were more disciplined defensively and played with more urgency as we held Queen's to 7 for 21 from the 3 pt line in this game. We completed our defensive effort by out-rebounding Queen's 50 to 31 and really controlling our defensive backboard.

Offensively we had moments where we looked good, but also had moments where we were turnover prone playing a little out of control. It's early October and we are anything but polished offensively right now. We did have good balance though with 4 guys in double figures. Jona Bermillo came off the bench to score 24 second half points as he carried us down the stretch from the point guard position after Scott Ring fouled out. Jona hit some clutch shots and made 15 of 17 free throws. After being a non-factor in the Ryerson game, 4th year post Mike Andrews reappeared with 15 points, 10 rebounds & 4 blocked shots. Onnex scored 14 and played quality defense while Majid continues to impress with 11 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. 4th year forward Matt McLean led us in rebounding with 11 and has really improved his overall game this year. 5th year forward Jeremy Leonard-Smith has been battling injuries for the past few months and is nowhere close 100%. However, he provided a great spark and help set the tone defensively along with 4th year guard Scott Ring.

Sunday vs. Manitoba

BU       14   20   18   17  -  69
UM        7   13   11   21  -  52

After defending pretty well vs. a high powered offensive team like Queen's the night before we had some confidence back in our defense. We played just as hard on Sunday and were able to hold Manitoba to 31 points for the first 3 quarters of the game. Offensively we continued to struggle at times, but it was nice to have our defense to fall back on.

After building our lead to 26 or 27 in the 4th quarter things got sloppy and Manitoba was able to cut the lead to less than 20 late in the 4th quarter. Despite that, it was good to finish the weekend on a relatively high note. I would not say our guys were overjoyed with the first tournament. As Scott Ring said, it was decent.  I think we are excited about getting a couple of weeks of quality practice in before we head to Carleton to face 3 outstanding teams in Victoria, Carleton and Lakehead.

Big Mike & Majid led us in scoring with 14 & 12 respectively. We had 4 others with 8 or 9 points in another balanced effort.

As previously mentioned, we are at the House-Laughton Tournament hosted by Carleton October 18-20. I will send out more information early next week on that. Included in that will be info on a BU Alumni reception following the Friday night game vs. Victoria. You can find more info on the men's basketball page at www.gaiters.ca.

I will keep you posted! 

Gaiters Open CIS Season in Kingston

We open up our CIS non-conference schedule at the Tindall Classic at Queen's University. We will face some of the top teams in the country in October and few are better than our first opponent, the Ryerson Rams. I am not sure it gets any easier as we face Queen's and Manitoba as well this weekend.

We hope to build on a break out season last year and will rely on a core of veterans and very nice freshman class. It has been a challenging September as we have faced a multitude of injuries thus far. We might not be as far advanced as we would like at this point, but we have a great group of guys to work with and by November we should be a team to be reckoned with. You can read a little more about our team at Northpole Hoops: http://northpolehoops.com/2013/09/18/nph-cis-team-preview-bishops-gaiters/

I will get a weekend review out early next week. Hope to see a few alumni, family & friends at the games this weekend!

Friday October 4th

4pm Ryerson vs Bishop's

Saturday October 5th

8pm Queens  vs Bishop's  

Sunday October 6^th

12pm Bishop's vs Manitoba 

Orange Impressive vs. Gaiters

Thursday August 22nd @ Champlain-St. Lambert

Bishop's        5     3     10     17  -  35
Syracuse      22    26   11     18  -  77

Syracuse is a top 5 NCAA program who produces NBA players every year and played in the Final 4 last season....just in case you did not know that!! They are renowned for their 2-3 zone defense and they play that exclusively. So, they know what they are doing, they have a Hall of Fame coach (who is a true gentleman by the way) and they have NBA level talent, size & athleticism. When you combine that with the fact that it is August 22nd and that we had one week of practice things can get ugly...and it was very ugly in the first half!

We had worked all week at focusing on getting the ball into the high post and talked about it constantly throughout the game. However, if our timing was not perfect (see...1 week of practice & NBA size) we were not getting the ball where it needed to go. Then when we did get a good look we had been so rattled by them we had lost all offensive rhythm. That carried over to the foul line as we shot 1- 8 from the foul line in the first half. For most part we were not able to execute what we had set out to do and even when we did their talent would negate good execution.

After  a miserable & frustrating first half we opened up the 3rd quarter on a 7-0 run. It was nice to score...period! We almost matched our first half total in 2 minutes! It was a small victory in that it made them call a timeout. From there we were competitive despite Syracuse making some spectacularly athletic plays at both ends of the floor. They were very impressive at times and quickly reminded you that their top guys play the game at another level and that their others guys are still pretty damn good! Despite that I was very pleased with how our guys competed in the 2nd half.

We were able to play all 14 players which included our 8 freshmen and we were pleased with their effort. As a coaching staff we have enjoyed coaching our guys this past week. We like their work ethic and character. We feel we have the potential to put together a very good season. That may not have been obvious vs. Syracuse, but as we improve our conditioning (which is not great right now & was magnified by a hot gym & a challenging training camp) and get more time in the gym together we should improve significantly.

It was fantastic to have so many BU fans, friends and alumni at the game. We truly appreciated your support and hope to see you out again when we play on the road in Montreal, Ottawa etc...this season!

I will keep you posted!
Rod

Revised Date for Syracuse Game

We received notification that our game vs. Syracuse that was originally scheduled for August 21st at McGill has been moved toThursday August 22nd. We will NOT play this game at McGill and the site will be determined in the near future.

I will get back to you with all the details ASAP.

Gaiters Open 2013-14 with Syracuse!

If you exclude our first game in August you would say we have a pretty ambitious schedule. In 7 of our first 9 CIS games we face teams that all had winning records last year with 8 of those 9 teams either being ranked in the Top10 last year or at least receiving consideration in the coach's poll at some point.

If our first 9 CIS games did not impress you then opening up with the 2013 NCAA Final Four perennial power Syracuse Orange might! This game will certainly be a tall order, but it will be a great experience for our guys. In conjunction with the Syracuse game which will be played at McGill, we will run an Alumni & fan reception before  the game. We will release those details a little closer to the date. 

I hope everyone has a great summer & is excited about the upcoming season of Gaiter basketball!

2013-14 Gaiter Basketball Schedule

*Thursday August 22nd      vs.       Syracuse University (in Montreal) site & time TBD Revised on June 26th*

 Queen’s Big 4 Tournament @ Queen’s U. 

October 4^th – 6^th          vs.           Queen’s, Manitoba &   Ryerson     TBA

House-Laughton Tournament @ Carleton U.

October 18^th – 20^th      vs.           Carleton, Lakehead & Victoria        TBA

 Graham Shootout @ U of Saskatchewan

Thursday October 24^th          vs.           Calgary                                  6:00 pm

Friday October 25^th               vs.           Saskatchewan                       8:00 pm

Saturday October 26^h           vs.           Toronto                                  12:30 pm

Saturday November 9^th      vs           UQAM                                     8:00 pm

Saturday November 16^th      @            Concordia                               4:00 pm

Friday November 22^nd        vs           Laval                                      8:00 pm

Thursday November 28^th     @            McGill                                      8:00 pm

Rod Shoveller Tournament @ Dalhousie U.

January  2^nd to 4^th               @            Dalhousie, Acadia, St. FX, Saint Mary’s etc.  T.B.A.     

Friday January 17^th             @            UQAM                                       8:00 pm

Saturday  January 18^th      vs           UQAM                                       8:00 pm

Friday January 24^th           vs           Laval                                         8:00 pm

Saturday January 25^th         @            Laval                                         7:00 pm

Thursday January 30^th     @            McGill                                        8:00 pm

Saturday  February 1^st        vs            McGill                                        8:00 pm

   

Friday February 7^th          vs           Concordia                                   8:00 pm

Saturday February 8^th        @            Concordia                                   4:00 pm

Friday February 14^th         vs           McGill                                         8:00 pm

Sunday February 16^th         @            UQAM                                        4:00 pm

Friday February 21^st         vs           Concordia                                    8:00 pm

Saturday February 22^nd      @            Laval                                            7:00 pm

PLAYOFFS

Friday February 28^th                 RSEQ Final 4 @   Univ. Laval              T.B.A.

to Saturday March 1st                                                                                                                                          

Friday March 7^th            CIS Final 8 @ Scotiabank Place, Ottawa, ON        T.B.A.

toSundayMarch9^th                                                                                                                           

Men's Basketball Recognized @ BU Awards Night

Last  evening was the annual BU Athletic Awards  night  which was held  at the Delta Hotel in Sherbrooke. It was  a nice  way to recognize our guys who had a  very  good  season along with all the other BU athletes.

The 4  awards  for  Men's Basketball are the Bradley Jones Rookie  of  the Year  Award, the Garth Smith Team Award, the Michel Fontaine Memorial Most  Improved Player Award and the Most Valuable  Player Award. 

                                                       Bradley Jones Rookie  of  the Year:  Jona Bermillo

The 6' guard from Vanier College had an 'un-rookie' like  year. Jona played with poise throughout and carried  us  in our semi-final playoff win vs. Concordia when starting PG Scott Ring  went out with a knee injury  early in the game. Jona provided scoring from both guard positions and was able to create for others while steadily improving his  defense throughout  the year.  He was named to the
 RSEQ  All-Freshman  team & was runner-up for  Rookie of the Year in our league.

                                        Garth Smith Team Award: Tim Hunter

After  leading our team in every statistical  category for the past  few years  Tim unselfishly took a step  back  this  year in some ways, but continued to lead by example. Tim enabled other players to step while sacrificing personal glory for the betterment of the team. Tim has been a great guy to coach for 5 years and we all appreciate that he has been an integral  part of  our team for the past 5 seasons. He will be missed!!





                                       Michel Fontaine Memorial Most  Improved Player: Mike Andrews

Entering his  3rd  season Mike was regarded as  a decent player in our  league, but was  seen as a guy with the 'P' word...potential! Mike made good strides  over the last year and has started to fulfill  some of that potential. His work led to him becoming the RSEQ Player of the Year and a 2nd Team All Canadian. In addition to that, he was named RSEQ Defensive Player of the Year as he led our league in blocked shots. Despite the accolades, Mike  has still on scratched the surface of his potential...if he was able  to win this award again next year he would then be some kind of player!!



                                                       Most Valuable Player: Scott Ring

Our 3rd year point guard is the unsung hero of this team. Not  the biggest the guy, maybe not the most skilled guy on the team, but definitely one of the toughest and most competitive. His strong will and determination helped our team rally all season. These traits were evident in the league final as he played 20+ minutes  before fouling out...but he had been on crutches for the 2 previous days after being injured in the league semi-final.

Both Jona & Mike were recognized with major BU awards as Jona was selected as the Most Outstanding Freshman Male Athlete @ BU while Mike was named BU's Male Athlete of the Year. 

2012-13 Season In Review

Our Season By the Numbers: 

Lost in RSEQ Final: 77-74 @ McGill.
2nd place finish in league standings: 10 wins & 6 losses.
Overall Record: 21 wins & 10 losses, 18 wins & 9 losses vs. CIS Competition
Record vs. teams in 'CIS Final 8' : 5 wins & 4 losses
Highest Ranking in CIS Coach's Poll: #9 (1st ranking since 1999)
Final Ranking in CIShoops.ca Ratings Percentage Index Poll: #8

Awards: 
Mike Andrews: 2nd Team All Canadian, RSEQ MVP, Defensive Player of Year & 1st Team Allstar
Jeremy Leonard-Smith: 1st Team RSEQ Allstar
Jona Bermillo: RSEQ All Rookie Team
BU Coaching Staff: RSEQ Coach of the Year

The season started out with some uncertainty and a very difficult schedule. In our first 4 games we faced 3 teams who would end up in the CIS Final 8 with 3 of those games on the road & one at a neutral site. We could have easily played very well and started the season 0-4. However, our team's hard work in September and their strong chemistry propelled us to a 3-1 start with wins over Ottawa (Bronze Medalists @ CIS Final 8), @ Victoria (6th place @ CIS Final 8) and vs. a talented Trinity Western team on our BC trip. Our only loss was @ UBC in a game that was definitely tighter than the final 12 point spread would indicate. UBC made it to the CIS Final 8 and was a top 4 team all season.

From there we continued to play well winning the UOttawa tournament & beating the GeeGees again, but on their own floor in a very tight game this time. We were down big at the half and ended up taking our 1st lead with 30 seconds to go. The crowd was fantastic...very heavy BU contingent & it literally felt like we were in our home gym in the 2nd half of that game!

From there we played well finishing the 1st semester with a 5 point win at McGill handing the then CIS #3 ranked Redmen their first loss of the year. The win left us with 2 wins & a loss in league play heading into the break. Over Christmas we won 3 out of 3 games at the UQAM Tournament before starting into league play again. We managed to win our first 3 games and broke into the national rankings for the first time in 14 years coming in at #9. That was short lived as our stumble occurred just after that with consecutive losses to McGill and at Concordia. Regardless, we managed to be on the radar all year & were consistently ranked in the top 12.

After finishing the season 10-6 in league we finished in 2nd place and hosted Concordia in a RSEQ semifinal. Despite foul trouble and injuries we hung on for a hard fought 7 point victory in front of a loud & large home crowd. Very much appreciated the support we received from our fans this season. The community was fantastic throughout as usual.

From there we headed to McGill for the league final where we played some very good basketball before having a 14 point halftime lead slowly slip away culminating in the final minute on a contested straight-on banked 3 pt shot at the end of the shot clock! Proud of how our guys played and once again an incredible crowd of BU fans there to support us.

A disappointing ending to the season that still stings. Regardless, our team and program made great strides this year and it was nice to bring the pride back to Gaiter Basketball. Next season looks promising as the only core player not returning is 5th year captain, Tim Hunter  aka Bones. Bones will be hard to replace, but the opportunity will be there for other guys to show what they can do. The season was fantastic from a coach's perspective not because of the wins, but because of the group of guys we coached...a fun, unselfish & hard working group. If they continue to work hard & never forget that we had success because WE were ALL IN then we will be very tough again next season!

We expect to play another very competitive non-conference schedule and hope to finish next year's season about 375 km east of our campus in mid-March!

I will keep you posted...GO GAITERS!!

Heartbreaking Loss in League Final

Saturday @ McGill - RSEQ Championship FINAL


BU        23   19   19   13  -  74
MU       14   14   27   22  -  77

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for all their support over the course of this season. We had great fan support at home games and on the road as well. Saturday at McGill in a packed house the BU fans rivaled the McGill fans in numbers and crushed them from a spirit perspective...somethings never change! It feels good to know that Gaiter Basketball is relevant again.

To say this loss is heartbreaking is an understatement. Our guys have put so much into this season and I feel they deserved a better fate. Regardless, they have nothing to hang their heads about and they represented all of us terrifically well!

We came to play on Saturday and really jumped on McGill in the first half. 5th yr senior Tim Hunter dropped five 3 pointers in the first half playing the way you need a senior to play. We did a fantastic job defensively, we rebounded the ball and we did not foul. Our ball pressure was excellent & we played like a championship team.

However, the wheels fell off a bit in the 2nd half. McGill came out in attack mode as they were down 14. We withstood that early and had our lead up to 15 points. Unfortunately our lack of depth(both Scott & PK played through injuries & were less effective than usual) combined with the fact the temperature in the gym was literally 90 degrees contributed to us wearing down and fouling way too much. After shooting 2 free throws in 1st half, McGill shot 28 in the 2nd half.We committed those fouls, but after watching the video I feel we could have shot another 8-10 free throws ourselves.

Fast forward to the final minutes. Down 1 with 2:30 to go and Jeremy hits a 3 point shot to put us up 2, we get a stop on the defensive end and follow that with a Big Mike score inside. McGill replies with a 2 and a defensive stop of their own. Then the dagger...with the shot clock running out McGill hits a contested 3 pointer off the glass from the top of the key to go ahead by 1. We come down and Jona Bermillo has his 3 point shot hit the front of the rim, the back board, the front of the rim, the back of the rim and the front of the rim before it falls off...Big Mike's tip back rolls off the rim! We are down 1 and end up fouling, McGill makes 2 free throws and our 3 pointer to tie rims out...game over...season over!

We held McGill to 35% shooting, we shot 41%, only gave up 6 offensive rebounds, forced 18 turnovers & committed 11, but were outscored by 15 points at the foul line. That was the game! Big Mike led us with 22 points & 7 rebounds despite McGill defenders doing chin-ups on his arms all night! Apparently if you are the biggest guy on the floor the defense can take liberties on you...I digress. Tim had a fantastic playoff performance scoring 17 in this game while Jeremy & Onnex added 14 & 10 respectively. Scott Ring was held scoreless & fouled out. However, he was on crutches on Thursday & Friday with a knee injury. The fact he played was a credit to his character, toughness & determination. Freshman Jona Bermillo played as well as a 1st year kid could in that environment & gave us a chance to compete with Scott playing on 1 leg.

McGill heads into the CIS tournament this week as the 6th seed facing a very good Ottawa team we have beaten twice. We have a 5-4 record vs. teams that will be in this year's National Tournament and it stings not to be there. Can only imagine the great fan support we would have had at Scotia Bank Place! Next season!!

We will have more news to report and a season review next week. Thanks again to all who supported us through the good and bad of the last few seasons.
Rod

Go Gaiters!!